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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 






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The Addresses and Lectures in this Edition are reprinted front 

Verbatim Reports. 




DDRESSES and 




ECTUKES 



OF 



D. L. MOODY, 



WITH A 



NARRATIVE OF THE AWAKENING 



IN 



LIVERPOOL AND LONDON. 



( SUPPLEMENTARY ISSUE. ) 



ADDRESSES AND LECTURES IN THIS VOLUME. 



GOD'S HUMAN INSTRUMENTS. 
CHRIST SEEKING THE LOST. 
SAVED OR LOST. 
MAN SEEKING FOR GOD. 

POPULAR PRESENT-DAY EXCUSES. 
A SERMON ABOUT HEAVEN. I THE BLOOD 



THE CALL TO SELF-EXAMINATION. 

THE NEW BIRTH. 

A SERMON ON ONE WORD. 

The MASTER'S PARTING COMMISSION. 




NEW YORK: 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

770 BROADWAY. 

Price Fifty Cents. 




CONTENTS 



THE WORK IN ENGLAND. 



LIVERPOOL: 

I. LIVERPOOL MOVED, . 
II. OPPOSITION AND SCORN, 

III. THE PRAYER OF THE EVANGELISTS, 

IV. GLORIOUS WORK, 

V. PHYSICAL AND MENTAL EFFORT, 
VI. GATHERINGS IN THE CIRCUS, 
VII. CLOSING ADDRESSES, 



i 

2 

3 
4 
7 
8 
io 



LONDON : 



I. THE BUILDINGS, ... 

II. OPENING SERVICES.— SCENES OUTSIDE, 

III. THE FIRST MONTH IN LONDON, 

IV. LETTER OF REV. R. W. DALE, 



II 

12 

22 

24 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES: 

I. GOD'S HUMAN INSTRUMENTS, 
II. CHRIST SEEKING THE LOST, 

III. SAVED OR LOST, 

IV. MAN SEEKING FOR GOD, 

V. THE CALL TO SELF-EXAMINATION, 
VI. THE NEW BIRTH, 
VII. A SERMON ON ONE WORD, 
VIII. THE MASTER'S PARTING COMMISSION, 
IX. POPULAR PRESENT-DAY EXCUSES, . 
X. ABOUT HEAVEN, . 

IX. THE BLOOD, 



3& 

41 

5* 
56 
62 
67 

74 
79 
86 
92 





The Addresses and Lectures in this Edition are reprinted from 

Verbatim Reports. 




DDRESSES and 




ECTURES 



OF 



D. L. MOODY, 



11 

WITH A 



NARRATIVE OF THE AWAKENING 



IN 

LIVERPOOL AND LONDON. 

( SUPPLEMENTA R Y ISSUE. ) 




NEW YORK: 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

770 BROADWAY. 
IV 



W ASHlNGTON 



,MtA* 



COPYRIGHT, 1875, BY 

Anson D. F. Randolph & Company. 



ROBERT RUTTER, 
BNDER, 

• 4 IEEKUAN STREET, N. T. 



EDWARD 0. JENKINS, 
PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER 

10 NORTH WILLIAM ST., N. Y. 



CO 

O 

ft 

[ £ NOTE 



The present Publishers issued in March last, a Narrative of 
Messrs. Moody & Sankey's Labors in Scotland and Ireland, and also 
in Manchester, Sheffield, and Birmingham, England. 

This supplementary issue, besides containing in full the article of 
the Rev. Mr. Dale, originally printed in the Congregational Quar- 
terly, and which is altogether the best analysis and review of the char- 
acter and labors of the Evangelists which has yet appeared, also 
sketches the work in Liverpool, and its progress in London, until the 
close of the first month. As the work in London has been conducted 
substantially in the same manner as elsewhere, it was thought that in 
the place of a continued narration, the American reader would prefer 
to possess in a permanent form a full report of some of the Addresses 
and Lectures of Mr. Moody. Those included in this volume were 
delivered in London during the first two weeks of March, and are the 
verbatim reports of the (London) Christian World. 

An edition of the two issues, bound together, is now ready, forming 
a volume of 200 pages 8vo. It is believed that no other published 
account of the great Awakening is more complete, while no other 
presents verbatim reports of Addresses. 

A moderate price has been fixed for the volume, to ensure its wide 
distribution. 

May, 1875. 



THE WORK IN ENGLAND. 



LIVERPOOL. 



The labors of Messrs. Moody and Sankey 
at Liverpool began on Sunday, Feb. 7th, 
and closed on the 7th of March. For their 
accommodation, Victoria Hall, a wooden 
structure of enormous strength, had been 
erected. The internal dimensions of the 
building are 174 feet long by 124 feet wide, 
with a seating capacity for 8,000 persons. 
The wide passages rendered the capacity 
of the building ample for 11,000 hearers. 
Inquirers rooms adjoined the platform. The 
building was constructed within forty days, 
and cost ^3>5°°- 

The Friday preceding the arrival was 
observed as a day of preparation on the 
part of many of the churches, and the first 
meeting of the Evangelists was on Sunday 
morning, at eight o'clock, for Christian 
workers. This was followed by the after- 
noon and evening meetings, when the work 
was begun, and subsequently carried on in 
the same manner as elsewhere. It is not 
necessary, therefore, to detail it here. The 
following letters will sufficiently indicate 
its progress and the state of public feeling 
in regard to it. 



I. 

As of the apostles of our Lord it was 
said, " These men, who have turned the 
world upside down, are come hither also," 
so of our brethren, Moody and Sankey. It 
is joyful to see that the success which at- 
tended their self-denying labors elsewhere, 
promises to be equaled, if not surpassed, 
in Liverpool. 

All Liverpool is moved by them ; but as 
yet, not all with the most desirable feelings. 
Some seem actuated by a spirit of embitter- 
ed hostility, and do not hesitate to write 
and speak of these servants of Christ, what 
has not the shadow of truth. This very 
opposition is, however, doing good. God 
makes " the wrath of men to prai'se Him." 
I have known of some who entered Vic- 
toria Hall bitter enemies, and left it attach- 
ed friends to the movement. Many flock 
to the meetings, apparently from idle curi- 
osity, and thousands under spiritual anx- 
iety, whilst God's people rally round the 



evangelists with an enthusiasm and hearty 
good-will which is cheering to observe. 
Mr. Moody seems to have lost none of his 
popularity in address- His style is plain, 
peculiar, and strikingly forcible. No same- 
ness of figure or phraseology, but new 
thoughts, new subjects, and new illustra- 
tions, producing deeper impressions, and 
drawing greater crowds than the one pre- 
ceding it. There is no other satisfactory 
reason which can be assigned for his un- 
precedented popularity, but that the mighty 
power of God is with him. 

The good work in his and his brother 
Sankey's hand seems like the noble river 
pouring its waters down the mountain, 
reaching the valley, deepened, widened, 
and expanding itself by the numerous 
tributaries which join it, it flows on with 
irresistible majesty, bearing before it every 
barrier of man, and yet not a ripple on its 
placid surface. 

Perhaps, of the marvelous work of God's 
grace going on in our midst, the " after- 
meetings," or " inquiry-room," is the most 
interesting and remarkable. Here are 
found representatives of all ages, from the 
very young, of only ten years, to the aged. 
All classes of character are discovered 
there, from the virtuous and moral, to the 
regardless and abandoned. 

" Can such a wretch as I be saved ?" was 
the question asked me by a seaman whom 
I knew twelve years since, the son of a 
humble, but truly pious man. Oft had he 
wept over his thoughtless son, but faith 
never failed him. He still said James will 
be all right yet. What was my joy may be 
conceived, but cannot be expressed, when 
the above question, " Can such a wretch as 
I be saved ?" was asked, and a strong sea- 
man caught my hand. 

u Yes, James, you can, and God is this 
night answering the prayers of your dear 
good father." 

" But, sir, I am such a sinner." 

" No matter, if every sin you have com- 
mitted was as aggravated as all the sins of 
your life combined, and that you commit- 
ted ten thousand sins, for every one of which 
you are guilty, the Blood of Jesus Christ, 
God's Son, can cleanse from all sin." 

m 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



" Oh, but I am so ashamed, I cannot 
look up." Such was the feeling of the 
poor prodigal ; but the loving Father was 
not ashamed to take His sinful son to His 
heart and home. 

" Will you give yourself to Christ ?" 
"I will," was his reply; "and I go to 
sea to-morrow, sailing for America as I 
never did before." 

THE SCOFFING INFIDEL BROUGHT TO GOD 
BY A HYMN. 

Such I have known to be the case. At 
last Monday evening's meeting, an intelli- 
gent young man informed me he came into 
that hall to scoff at all he heard. " I be- 
lieved only in God and the devil ; the latter 
I served well, and as sitting laughing at 
the fools (as I then thought) about me, 
that beautiful hymn, ' Safe in the arms of 
Jesus,' was sung. A sudden thrill passed 
through my whole frame, and then like a 
dart ran through my very heart. My feel- 
ings were awful, but I listened to the next 
verse, and felt there is a Saviour. Who is 
He ? Where is He ? Instantly I realized 
the truth, Jesus is the Saviour. I threw 
myself into His loving arms, and here I am 
now, rejoicing in Him." 

" Blessed be God," I said, " for such 
news. Now, brother, go home and tell 
your friends what great things God hath 
done for your soul." 

" Will you pray ?" he said. 

We went together to the throne, and 
then he said, " God bless you. I will now 
live and work for Jesus." 

The devil lays his plans, and no doubt 
thinks they are well arranged, but whilst 
he proposes certain events, God disposes 
of them in a very different way than Satan 
expected. He works by his servants, as 
God works by sanctified souls. 

THE DECEIVER DISAPPOINTED. 

Of this I have had an instance. 

" I am under a dreadful temptation," 
said a young man to me- 

"What is it?" I asked. 

" I was given drink by a man professing 
to be a Christian, and whom I have heard 
preaching the truth to me and others, but 
who is opposed to Moody and Sankey, and 
I was sent here by him to give annoyance. 
Now I am brought to Christ, in place of 
dishonoring Christ in this meeting, what 
am I to do to this man ?" 

" Pray for him," I said, " and God will 



give him to you as a star for your crown. 
Tell him plainly his state, and bring him 
here with you next night." 

" I knew a lady who went to a religious 
meeting an avowed infidel, sent there by 
two sisters-in-law for a similar purpose to 
that which brought you this night here. 
She was brought to Christ, and sent back 
to them full of Jesus, and was the means 
of their saving conversion ; and now all 
three are rejoicing in the great salvation 
effected by Jesus, the Son of God rf for 
every penitent, believing child of Adam." 

Truly the Lord is doing great things for 
us, "whereof we are glad." But faith in- 
duces us to expect still greater blessings, 
feeling that we have only yet got the first 
drops of the showers. We look for the 
latter rain, praying that Liverpool may be 
made in every home the habitation of 
righteousness, that the Word of God may 
be in every hand, and its precious truths 
written on every heart, and^ holiness to 
God may characterize all its inhabitants." 



II. 

It may emphatically be said of them, 
" They came, they spoke, they conquered." 
For twenty years I have been more or less 
mixed up with the evangelistic work of the 
town, but never have I met with more op- 
position and scorn to any movement than 
the present. 

The erection of the vast hall to hold 
10,000 persons, was looked on as monstrous 
folly. As it was being built, the talk was, 
To what purpose is this waste ? But now 
what was called Moody's folly, is seen to 
be God's wisdom- 
Men who wrote, spoke against, and 
laughed at it, now speak with bated 
breath, come and hear, and go with chang- 
ed thoughts. " Nothing succeeds like suc- 
cess," is an old world's adage, and in this 
is proved to be true : — 6,000 at a midday 
prayer-meeting ; 6,000 at the afternoon 
Bible-lecture; 10,000 at the evening meet- 
ing, with the inquiry-rooms full, are some- 
thing that even the Exchange has to admit. 
But beyond this, there is the mighty work- 
ing power of God's Spirit working and act- 
ing, which no tables can register or num- 
bers record. " 'Tis not by might, nor by 
power, but by My Spirit," was the key-note 
of the preparatory meetings, which has 
been steadily kept before all the workers. 
Looked at in a plain matter-of-fact light, 
we ask, What brings the people together ? 



LIVERPOOL. 



Preaching, teaching, singing, can be heard, 
more artistic and eloquent, almost any- 
where, we are forced to admit. It is the 
power of the Spirit in making plain words 
burn and simple singing touch. 

The part allotted to me in the great 
work has enabled me to see and test much 
thaf is going on. And this I can say — 
there is wheat ; there is chaff. The wheat 
is sound, and will be a glorious, bountiful 
harvest. The chaff will be blown away. 
Wheat and chaff always grow together. 
Never have we been privileged to see so 
much real, genuine work — anxious faces, 
tearful eyes, aching hearts. The general 
feeling is that souls are being born again, 
even though they have not courage to stand 
up or walk into the inquiry-rooms. 

Last Thursday night, Mr. Moody, after 
a telling address, went into the inquiry- 
room, and his place was occupied by a 
layman, who wielded the sword of the 
Spirit with amazing power right and left. 
His words, powerful and well-chosen, fell 
with force, and told on the vast audience 
that seemed spellbound. Many seemed to 
be convicted of sin, and hurried into the 
inquiry-room. 

Liverpool needs the prayers of the 
Christians of Great Britain at this crisis. 
Every arrangement that man can make has 
been made for the well carrying on of the 
work. But what we fear are unwise help- 
ers and the Sanballats who would come in 
and mar the work. 



III. 

"Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, 
and Thy glory unto their children. Estab; 
lish Thou the work of our hands upon us ; 
yea, the work of our hands establish Thou 
it." 

Such has been the prayer of our beloved 
friends, Messrs. Moody and Sankey, and 
those who have supported them in their 
work here for the last ten days, and the 
Lord has heard and answered them of a 
truth. In some places which our brethren 
have visited, the fruits have begun to ap- 
pear almost as soon as the seed was sown. 
In others, and notably Dublin, th e apparent 
results were some time delayed, though the 
blessing of many conversions to God was 
afterwards abundantly given. In Liver- 
pool, already, the issue of the meetings has 
been most encouraging. 

In the opening services, Mr. Moody re- 



marked that many people thought the Vic- 
toria Hall was a bad investment, but that, 
if souls were born there, perhaps some of 
them would like to have a little stock in it. 

On the evening of Monday week, the 
first opportunity was given for anxious in- 
quirers to be spoken with. Mr. Moody 
had just delivered a most heart-searching 
address, in which he had shown man's un- 
utterably lost condition without Christ, and 
many refuges of lies had been laid bare. 
But he did not leave the sinner there. With 
all simplicity and affectionate earnestness, 
he held up a crucified Saviour, and once 
again it was shown that the good, old- 
fashioned gospel — stripped of all rhetorical 
dead-weights and conventionalisms that 
often prove hindrances instead of helps — 
had not lost its power. Mr. Moody's 
earnest invitation to those who were anx- 
ious about their salvation, to stand up, and 
afterwards to meet him in the inquiry-room, 
was responded to by hundreds, who were 
not deterred from showing their anxiety by 
the curious gaze of many thousand specta- 
tors. 

Many striking instances of conversion 
have occurred, and other cases have come 
under my own observation in which back- 
sliders have been led to return to their 
first love. One day at the noon prayer- 
meeting Mr. Moody told of an interesting 
case of conversion he had met the night 
before. A young, stalwart man, who was 
to sail for America next day, had come in- 
to the meeting. He had been pricked to 
the heart by Mr. Moody's pointed appeals, 
and found his way to the inquiry-room, and 
here, as he believed, to lay his hitherto 
unforgiven sins on Jesus. Later in the even- 
ing he called on Mr. Moody at his hotel, 
and received a letter of introduction to any 
of the Christian friends in America he might 
meet. He was accompanied to the hotel 
by his brother, who had come from the 
country with him to see him sail, and who 
seemed overjoyed to think that one so 
nearly related to him was taking Christ 
with him ere he left his native shores. 

The experience of Monday evening has 
been repeated every evening since, more 
or less, and I have not the least doubt but 
great numbers have been led to see and 
feel their lost condition, and to cast their 
all on Christ, who have not openly avowed 
it. We may reasonably suppose that curi- 
osity has mostly passed away, yet it is no 
easy task sometimes to induce the vast 
audiences who throng into every corner 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



of Victoria Hall, to leave, after the bene- 
diction has been twice pronounced. 

At the evening meetings the hall is al- 
ways crowded with something like 10,000 
people, and if it were not that the com- 
mittee kept a great part of the passages 
clear to allow of access to the inquiry-room, 
every inch of standing ground would be 
occupied. The attendance at the noon 
prayer-meetings averages 4,000 to 5,000, 
the audience, of course, not being so mixed 
as those in the evening. One gratifying 
circumstance, however, in connection with 
the noon meeting should be noted, and 
that is, the presence of so many of the 
Liverpool merchants and business men. I 
have heard it stated that between twelve 
and one, when the noon prayer-meeting is 
held, 'Change is half deserted, and it has 
been remarked that no other source of at- 
traction has ever drawn so many of these 
busy men away from their money-making 
for an hour in the middle of the day. May 
they carry away some truth that will cling 
to them when they are tempted to forget 
God in their haste to get rich ! The re- 
quests for special prayer have been very 
numerous and so varied that it would be 
impossible to characterize them. The 
notices of the secular press, while not ex- 
pressing any hearty sympathy with the 
movement, have been very fair and honest, 
as a rule, considered as simple reports of 
the proceedings. 

A very happy feature of the work here, 
as elsewhere, is the sympathetic co-opera- 
tion of many clergymen and ministers of 
various denominations. They appear on 
the platform and take part in the services, 
as well as in the personal dealing with the 
anxious. „ This is matter for thanksgiving, 
though some correspondents of the Liver- 
pool papers assert that the very presence 
of the evangelists here, and the admitted 
need there is for their labor, is a slur upon 
their own zeal and fitness for the work of 
evangelizing the destitute and depraved 
masses of the town. 

I am not seeking to defend any apathy 
that may have been shown by ministers or 
Christians generally with respect to the 
moral condition of this town, which by 
universal consent is most deplorable. But 
all must agree that, after the ministers and 
their flocks have done their utmost, there 
is a crying need here for special effort. 
And it is gratifying to know that the worst 
are being, to some extent, reached by the 
present movement. At one of the noon 



meetings, important testimony on this point 
was given by Dr. Owles, of the Liverpool 
Medical Mission. He stated that he had 
met with some few among the very poor of 
this town who had already been present at 
the meetings, and he had heard of many 
others who were desirous to come. In the 
inquiry-room on Monday night there 
was one little fact which was most encourag- 
ing to some of those who were laboring in 
the lower part of Liverpool. Among the first 
batch of those who were present, number- 
ing somewhere about twenty-five, there 
were three well-known faces from the dis- 
trict of Scotland road, and each of them had 
brought another friend with him. During 
the past two evenings they had conversed 
with several souls. In some the impression 
had evidently been very slight, but in others 
he might say, with equal certainty, it had 
been very deep ; and in one or two in- 
stances within his own personal knowledge . 
souls had returned on the second evening 
to state that they were truly saved. He 
might say, too, that, on speaking further 
with them, the impression of one or more 
intelligent Christians was, that their cases 
were real, that they had truly distinguished 
between the touch of the crowd and the 
touch of faith, and that virtue had gone out 
from the Great Physician which had healed 
their souls. The inquiry-room, however, 
was no necessary test of what the real work 
was. Many who were naturally somewhat 
forward were ready to go there under very 
slight impression ; whilst others who were 
more reserved, and in whose souls the 
work had gone far deeper, would go home, 
and would not dare to speak even to their 
nearest friends. He trusted, however, that 
as the work went on, very many would 
come with the cry, not only in their 
hearts, but within their lives, " What must 
I do to be saved?" 



IV. 

"This is glorious work; this is reality" 
Such was the remark that reached my ears 
one evening last week as I was passing 
through the inquiry-room adjoining Vic- 
toria Hall. There, I thought, is the whole 
movement in a nut-shell. The more I see 
it, and the more I ponder over it, I am im- 
pressed with the feeling of reality that per- 
vades this work as it is now going on in 
Liverpool. Endless are the surmises, and 
very ludicrous some of the guesses, as to 
the secret of its wonderful success. The 



LIVERPOOL. 



Liverpool critics (and their name is legion) 
are fairly puzzled. They cannot dispute 
facts, though they are not always careful 
to ascertain what the facts really are, and 
seem to have a wonderful aptitude at twist- 
ing them. But there is much that' they 
cannot help seeing and knowing, and they 
are at a loss to understand how two simple, 
common laymen have been able to do what 
hundreds upon hundreds of highly culti- 
vated and refined theologians have not got 
within sight of. I sum it all up in the one 
word reality. 

Mr. Moody has often been described, 
and criticised, and dissected, both by 
friends and foes, but I think sufficient stress 
has been laid on his predominating charac- 
teristic of reality. His gospel is the same 
as one hears in most places ; yet it is dif- 
ferent, because it is so real. Never mind 
if his weapons are not of the most orthodox 
kind ; they accomplish the desired object 
all the more, perhaps, just as the youthful 
David's sling and stone went straight to 
the mark. To follow up the parallel, Mr. 
Moody is not content with sending his 
message straight to the hearts of his hearers, 
but he follows it up, as David did, when 
he completed his victory over the Philis- 
tine. As he said the other day, he pulls up 
his net anon to see what he has caught. 
This is the highest test of his reality, and 
the one that has evoked the greatest criti- 
cism. But it is the one that has all along 
contributed most to the success of the 
movement. 

During the past week the slain of the 
Lord have been many. Every evening has 
seen fresh groups scattered over the in- 
quiry-room, with tearful eyes and troubled 
hearts, drinking in the affectionate words 
of invitation, or the plain words of appeal, 
addressed to them by Mr. Moody and his 
co-workers. People who know least about 
it may affect to shrug the shoulder at the 
inquiry-room, but one or two visits there 
would do them good, and probably con- 
vince them how indispensable it is to suc- 
cess in this work. I hope one result of 
this awakening in our land will be that 
every minister of the gospel and every one 
who seeks to speak to his fellow-men about 
salvation, will not only cast out the net, 
but will draw it up every time. 

The leading attraction of the meetings 
last week was Mr. Moody's Bible lectures. 
On Tuesday and Wednesday he gave two 
lectures on " The Blood," and on Thurs- 
day and Friday two lectures on " Heaven." 



These were delivered each day at three 
o'clock in the afternoon, and again in the 
evening, so as to enable a large number of 
persons to attend them. On each occasion 
the hall was crowded ; so that on a moder- 
ate computation, the seed of the word of 
God relating to these two most important 
subjects was sown in the hearts of some 
60,000 or 70,000 persons, many of them 
from a long distance. In the words of the 
hymn we may ask, " What shall the harvest 
be ? " The day shall reveal it. 

The lectures are a treat of no ordinary 
kind. As expository discourses they are 
most valuable, and reveal, to some extent, 
how Mr. Moody has got, to use a common 
phrase, " the Bible at his finger ends." 
Probably few of his thousands of hearers 
ever before had such a correct estimate of 
the value of the doctrine of " the blood," or, 
as Mr. Moody calls it, " the scarlet thread" 
that runs through the Scriptures, like the 
thread that holds together a string of pre- 
cious pearls. Mr. Moody traced the doc- 
trine, from the slaying of the beasts in 
Eden, with whose skins God clothed our 
first parents, recorded in Genesis, down to 
the Revelation where the redeemed sing 
the song of Moses, and the Lamb that was 
slain. The lectures on " Heaven " must 
have left the impressions and ideas of that 
"prepared place for a prepared people," 
clearer to the minds and dearer to the 
hearts of the listeners than ever. 

But these lectures have a wonderful 
hortatory as well as expository value. As 
Mr. Moody held up the sacrifice offered on 
the cross, " once for all," and dwelt on the 
exceeding preciousness of the blood of 
Christ as a sufficient atonement for sin, 
many a head was bowed, and many a heart 
melted, that had hitherto been steeled 
against the story of a Saviour's love. Again, 
when Mr. Moody, speaking on " Heaven," 
showed the utter worthlessness of earthly 
treasure when compared to the " prize " 
for which Paul looked and longed, the ar- 
row of conviction went home to many a 
heart. His remarks on the necessity for 
many Christians throwing out a good deal 
of " ballast " before they could rise to a 
higher spiritual life, were, I think, very 
timely, and capable of application in these 
money-getting and money-worshipping 
days. 

It is a gratifying fact that the attendance 
at the evening meetings chiefly continues 
to increase. During the first week of the 
services the Victoria Hall was almost suffi- 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



cient to hold the crowds of eager listeners ; 
at any rate, the overflow was not considered 
so great as to necessitate the opening of 
other places. Last week, however, over- 
flow meetings were held, sometimes in two 
and sometimes in three different places. 

One evening, I went to St. John's Church, 
where I found W. H. M. Aitken and the 
Vicar of the church conducting the service 
after the model of the services in Victoria 
Hall. The body of the church was filled 
partly with the overflow from the hall, and 
partly with those who had been induced 
to enter by personal solicitation, and by 
hearing a group of young men singing 
hymns in the churchyard. It was a motley 
company, and a great majority consisted of 
those who, from their dress and appearance, 
do not often find their way to God's house. 
There were numbers of men such as one 
sees lounging at street corners and about 
public-houses, many young girls in work- 
ing attire and without bonnets, and a num- 
ber of rough, neglected-looking street 
Arabs. Their behavior, with one or two 
exceptions, was most orderly and atten- 
tive. A good sprinkling remained at the 
close to be conversed with, and many of 
them were enabled to lay their sins on Je- 
sus, or, as the speaker said, to accept the 
fact that God had laid them there nearly 
nineteen hundred years ago. 

It is interesting and refreshing to notice 
how all grades of society and all ages are 
represented among the anxious who throng 
the inquiry-room at the close of Mr. 
Moody's addresses. From the richly- 
dressed lady to the poor waif of the street, 
with scarce enough of clothing to cover his 
nakedness ; from the boy and girl of eight 
or ten years, to the horny-handed, grey- 
headed working-man, with all the interven- 
ing stages of life, there you find all, bur- 
dened with the same sense of sin, and af- 
terwards rejoicing in the same Saviour. 
Truly, we are all one in Christ. 

The noon prayer-meetings continue to 
be well attended, and are chiefly remarka- 
ble for the accumulated testimony that is 
given to the good effect of this movement 
in outlying towns and country districts. 
The meetings have been attended during 
the past week by large numbers of Welsh 
ministers and others, and with their pro- 
verbial fire and energy, these warm-hearted 
laborers in the Lord's vineyard, among 
their native hills, will become retailers 
of the quickening and refreshing influence 
they have received in Liverpool. At one 



of the noon meetings some most interesting 
accounts were given of good work among 
the sailors here, who had attended the 
Victoria Hall services. 

The special work among the young men, 
which has been carried on in other towns 
where the evangelists have been, is being 
organized here also. On Saturday evening 
there was a meeting for young men, chiefly 
to make arrangements, at which Mr. Moody 
was present. In the meantime the meet- 
ings will be held in Newsome's Circus, and 
shortly it is expected that the Concert-room 
of St. George's Hall will be available. 

Sunday last was another day of much 
sowing of the precious seed of the word, 
and reaping too. The early meeting for 
" workers " was some 8,000 strong. Mr. 
Moody's address was a continuation of 
those he had delivered on the two previous 
Sunday mornings — " To every man his 
work." His remarks were chiefly directed 
to work in the Sunday-school, in which 
he said the whole Church of God 
could be engaged. He spoke of the good 
that even little children could do. He 
would a good deal rather have a little miss 
some thirteen or fourteen years old to tell 
the other children of the love of Jesus than 
an old man with no fire in his heart. He 
enforced his appeals by some striking and 
appropriate incidents, of which he seems 
to have an inexhaustible store. He prayed 
that all those present " might have a pas- 
sion for souls." 

This service was not quite so largely at- 
tended as on the preceding Sunday, but by 
the time Mr. Moody's address commenced, 
the hall was quite full. It was a somewhat 
saddening thought that so many thousands 
of people in this town, who most of them 
have not the slender excuse of want of 
respectable clothing, should admittedly 
and regularly absent themselves from the 
public worship of God. Yet it was 
pleasant to think that they were so far 
convinced of the importance of spiritual 
things as to come to Victoria Hall to hear 
more about them. Mr. Moody simply, and 
in that wonderful realistic way in which he 
describes things, told the story of Christ's 
agony, betrayal, shameful maltreatment, 
trial, and crucifixion. The heart must 
have been hard indeed that could remain 
unmoved, and the whole congregation 
seemed deeply to feel the surpassing in- 
terest of the story recited by Mr. Moody. 
Numbers rose at his invitation, indicating 
their desire to become Christians, and the 



LIVERPOOL. 



inquiry-room was filled at the close with 
those whose hearts had been touched, and 
who desired a sense of God's pardoning 
love, through the infinite merits of the 
Crucified One. 

The afternoon meeting for women was a 
wonderful sight. The hall was packed to 
excess, and many hundreds failing to gain 
entrance, an overflow meeting was held in 
Newsome's Circus. Mr. Sankey sang the 
solo, " Mary Magdalene," amidst the most 
profound silence, and the pathetic and 
beautiful words of the hymn brought tears 
to many an eye. Mr. Moody spoke on 
" What Christ is to us," a most pregnant 
and powerful address on a theme that he 
said it would take all eternity to exhaust. 
As at other times, Mr. Moody asked those 
who wished to be prayed for to rise up, 
and hundreds upon hundreds responded 
in all parts of the house. A more touching 
or cheering sight I never witnessed. Mr. 
Sankey sang, " Almost persuaded," and 
Mr. Moody said that there were so many 
anxious, it would be impossible to speak 
with them ; so he asked them to go home, 
and at five o'clock to take God's Word, 
and kneel down pleading his promise, and 
commit themselves to Him. All the 
Christians in the hall would be praying for 
them at that hour. He prayed that they 
might be altogether persuaded. 

Mr. Moody repeated his afternoon ad- 
dress to an immense audience of men in 
the evening, and in the course of it made 
strong reference to the great curse of 
Liverpool, the drink traffic, amid the ap- 
proval of the vast congregation. He asked 
them to show the^r detestation of it by 
becoming abstainers. There were hun- 
dreds of inquirers at the close. A deeply 
interesting meeting of about 7,000 young 
men was held in the Circus from nine to ten 
o'clock, conducted by Mr. Henry Drum- 
mond. These meetings are to be continued 
every night. 



Work in connection with these special 
services, if we avail ourselves of ours 
privileges, means much toil. Mr. Moody 
has scored the word " duty " out of our 
vocabulary, and inserted " glorious privi- 
lege." Those who take up this work, and 
carry it out faithfully, find that each 
meeting, especially in the evenings, in- 
volves some four hours' physical and 
mental effort, making due arrangements 



for the comfort of ten thousand visitors, 
looking up and after the numerous cases 
of special inquirers. I can liken it to 
nothing so much as work in the trenches 
before a besieged city, in which every 
nerve and energy, spiritual and physical, 
has promptly and wisely to be put forth — 
parties sallying out, either singly or in 
company, to trace out and capture the 
anxious and inquiring. 

Our great hinderers in this are the Chris- 
tian lookers-on and curiously inclined ; 
they feel an interest in the fight with the 
powers of darkness, but, from various 
motives, do not help. Such will persist in 
filling up the benches, to the exclusion of 
hundreds who ought to be brought in. There 
is a large amount of selfishness in the 
Church, very apparent in our meetings. 
We do not know how to deal with it, 
taking up, as it does, the best seats, and 
monopolizing much room. Mr. Moody 
and others have spoken from the platform 
about it, and tried to stir up the conscience, 
but in vain. They are almost worse than 
Meroz ; for they not only do not help, but 
they hinder. 

The house-to-house visitors report that 
the very poor, those to whom every hour 
is daily bread, say that it is no use going 
to the hall ; they cannot get in ; and they 
cannot afford to leave work at five o'clock, 
and wait two or three hours for the meet- 
ing, which those who have no employment 
do, to get the seats with backs. Christians 
had much better be holding prayer-meet- 
ings elsewhere, for the Spirit's power on 
the word, than keeping out those who 
know not the truth, but would come to 
hear it. 

Those who know Liverpool best, all say 
that those who can face a Liverpool 
audience, and pass the crucial test of its 
critical investigation, must have something 
more than ordinary in them. This is now 
being done, with the usual accompaniment 
of respectable and rough rowdyism doing 
all it can to blacken and wrest plain-spoken 
truth. 

The old slave-driving element is largely 
developed here, and is not confined to the 
back slums and dark corners of the town. 
Many a tale of shame might be related of 
how Liverpool has treated honorable grey 
heads, that have come on missions of phil- 
anthrophy and love ; but we forbear. The 
Master went that path, so all His followers 
must. The disciple is not above his Mas- 
ter here, as in days of old. 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



VI. 

The nightly gatherings in the Circus, 
from nine to ten, have been well sustained 
during the past week, and have been 
fraught with interest. Mr. Henry Drum- 
mond invariably presides, and conducts 
the proceedings with much tact and dis- 
cretion. He throws aside all formalism, 
and endeavors to give the meeting as much 
of a family and social aspect as possible, in 
ordei to remove the natural diffidence that 
most young men feel in making any public 
statement about their conversion, which 
may be very recent, or their spiritual 
experience, which may not have been very 
deep or well defined. While the meetings 
are free to all who may feel disposed to 
speak, any attempt to raise controversy on 
disputed points of doctrine is vigorously 
repressed. Such a thing, however, seldom 
occurs, and would obviously be out of har- 
mony with the object of these meetings, 
which is to encourage the young converts 
to make public confession of their faith in 
Christ, in the hope that the simple story 
of their conversion may lead others to the 
Saviour. Sometimes a few broken sen- 
tences from a young convert, telling how he 
lost his burden at the cross, have more ef- 
fect on the hearers than could be gained 
by an hour's ordinary preaching. An ounce 
of testimony, modestly and truthfully given, 
is often worth more than a ton of theologi- 
cal disquisition. 

Hitherto these meetings have been such 
as to warrant the belief that a solid and 
lasting work of grace has begun among the 
young men of Liverpool. In few, if any, 
of our large towns are the temptations to 
evil more numerous and more seductive. 

The larger and more public meetings in 
Victoria Hall have been continued during 
the past week without any diminution in 
the attendance (except at one or two of 
the noon meetings, when the weather has 
been very severe), or the apparent results. 

Many interesting statements have been 
made at the noon prayer-meetings with re- 
gard to the progress of the work in places 
which Messrs. Moody and Sankey have 
already visited, and in remote country dis- 
tricts which this wave of revived spiritual 
life has reached. 

At the same meeting a letter was read 
giving some cheering intelligence of a 
movement among the engine-drivers and 
stokers on the North-Western Railway. 

At the Wednesday noon meeting, a min- 



ister stated that at the conclusion of the 
previous Sunday's service, a barman came 
to him and told him that he feared he 
could not go on with his occupation and 
serve God. Moreover, he said that he had 
his father dependent upon him. He told 
the man to trust in God, and recited cases 
in which God had not forsaken those who 
had so trusted in Him. After a few min- 
utes' struggle the young man was able to 
throw himself entirely on the Lord, and he 
thought that he had left the church a be- 
liever in Christ. 

At the meeting on Thursday at noon, 
another minister mentioned a circumstance 
that came to his knowledge, showing that 
whole families had been recently led to 
the Lord. About ten or twelve days ago 
a young lady in the hall decided for Christ, 
and since then her only brother had given 
himself to the Lord, two sisters had become 
Christians, and five brothers-in-law, as well 
as others in the same circle, making fifteen 
persons who were now rejoicing in Him. 

Another speaker said that they were 
aware that a house-to-house visitation was 
going on in connection with the services. 
They had heard some complaints of visitors 
only putting a tract into the letter-boxes, 
and not making any efforts to speak with 
the people in the houses. He hoped such 
persons would remember that that was not 
the primary object of their work, but it 
was desired that they should give some 
practical and verbal testimony of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. He knew of an instance in 
which a visitor called at the residence of 
a wealthy lady in town. Contrary to her 
expectation, the visitor was admitted, and 
the lady said that she thought the visits 
were to be limited to the poor. Before the 
visitor left, however, the lady was in tears 
about the state of her soul. Another case 
occurred in a poor district, the visitor be- 
ing received by a woman who asked her 
to go in to see her husband, who would 
not go to hear the word of God. But, 
notwithstanding the invitation, the visitor 
went away without saying a word to the 
poor man. To those who are willing to 
undertake visitation, districts would be 
readily assigned. 

Mr. Sankey said that when they were in 
Glasgow they heard a great deal about 
their not reaching the lapsed masses. He 
did not hear much of similar complaints in 
Liverpool. That, however, was not their 
chief object. It seemed to him to be the 
duty of the Church to go after the masses. 



LIVERPOOL. 



He hoped those Christian friends who had 
got themselves fired up at the meetings, 
would make it their life-work to reach 
those people who were perishing in the 
lower places of the town. It would be 
better for such people to go into it than 
that Mr. Moody should do so, who, how- 
ever, often did work of that kind in his 
own city. 

On Friday some valuable testimony was 
given as to the tangible effects of the work 
in Liverpool. It was stated that one class 
reached had been those who, though relig- 
iously trained, had, during these special 
meetings, seen a new meaning and power 
in the truths with which they were familiar. 
Many sailors, and ship captains, too, had 
come to the meetings and been guided in- 
to the true haven of rest and peace. Then 
there were many workingmen who had 
plunged into the depths of intemperance, 
and whose insulted and injured wives, 
after being driven from their homes, had 
been compelled to support themselves and 
their children for years together. These 
wives, in this day of grace, had sent letters 
to their husbands, extending their forgive- 
ness and imploring them to come to Vic- 
toria Hall and seek forgiveness of the 
Saviour. Some of them had come and 
found that forgiveness, and gone back to 
lighten their homes again with a new lustre 
and joy. 

Allusion was made by one of the speak- 
ers to another class, one much too large 
and full of strange and painful interest, 
consisting of those who have in past years 
made a profession of love to Christ, but 
have wandered 

H Away on the mountains, wild and bare," 

and have been glad to take of the husks 
that the swine did eat. It had often been 
asked whether the converts connected 
with this revival would stand the test of 
time, and endure the temptations of the 
world. When the question is put, as it 
often is, by a Christian brother, I ask ano- 
ther: "Brother, have all your converts 
stood fast ?" I can only confess that, dur- 
ing the forty years but one that I have 
preached in this town, I have missed a 
great many from the fold; but I have 
found some of them in that inquiry-room. 
The first night the inquiry-room was need- 
ed, I lingered on the platform, not intend- 
ing to go into the room, when a message 
came to me, " You are wanted immediate- 
ly; an inquirer wishes to see you." I 



went, and I had not seen that face — I will 
not tell you whether it was man or woman 
— for twenty years ; and I found that soul 
had wandered away, and had kept out of 
my sight with perfect success. The first 
conviction was to go and tell him by whose 
hands they had been received into the 
Christian Church. Many a wanderer has 
come, and Christ alone knows how many 
more He will welcome back to His all-for- 
giving arms, and fill our hearts with a 
gladness they have never experienced be- 
fore." 

And so the great work flows on steadily, 
unhindered in the least, as I believe, by 
the newspaper opposition of the " carping 
critics." 

Mr. Moody's Bible-lectures last week, 
though (with one exception) perhaps not 
so full of interest as those of the week be- 
fore, have been very largely attended and 
evidently enjoyed. 

One of the most interesting meetings of 
the week was the " children's service " on 
Wednesday afternoon, at which Mr. Moody 
and Mr. Sankey were both present. So 
many little ones it has never before been 
my lot to see gathered under one roof. 
Some of the daily papers put down the 
numbers in Victoria Hall at 12,000, with 
an overflow meeting of about 2,000 in the 
Circus. Think of such a number of young, 
impressible natures brought at one time 
under the sweet sound of redeeming love ! 
Mr. Moody's address, founded on the book 
with three leaves, black, red, and white, 
was a sort of running interchange of sim- 
ple yet searching questions, and answers 
very promptly given. The singing by Mr. 
Sankey of some of his solos was greatly 
enjoyed by the youthful audience, and 
when they all joined in the chorus, or sang 
other of the hymns right through with great 
heartiness, and as with one voice, we had 
yet one more proof of how universally and, 
I trust, inalienably, these sweet gospel 
songs have become household possessions 
throughout the kingdom. 

The evening meetings during the week 
have, as usual, been crowded for some 
time before the regular hour for commenc- 
ing the service. The overflow meetings 
have been held in the Circus. Mr. Sankey 
has generally been present in the course of 
the evening at both places. Mr. Moody's 
gospel addresses at the evening meetings 
have been characterized by much simplic- 
ity and power, and the result has been 
seen in the crowds of both sexes who pass 



10 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



the inquiry-room. In the 
i has been closely asso- 

rk during the past week, 
d " flocking into the King- 
l understand from the 
roe thai several oi our much-to- 
fallen sisters have been reelaimed 
through the agency of the meetings. Would 
ery poor drunkard and profli- 
in Liverpool might "come to him- 
and return to his Father like the 
of old. Let us thank God for 
what Me has done, and ask Him in faith 
to bless this special agency yet more abun- 
dantly. 

Aj the days and weeks roll past, and the 
nes are so often repeated, it is 
difficult to find fresh terms in which to 
ribe " these wondrous gatherings day 
The four meetings on Sunday 
may briefly be stated as a repetition 
of those on the Sunday before. All crowd- 
ed to the utmost capacity of the great hall, 
and, in some cases, especially at the after- 
noon and evening meetings, multitudes 
turned away for lack of room. 

The service for " non-church-goers " at 
eleven o'clock was a fresh illustration of 
the power of Christ's wondrous love, or 
u compassion," to melt the hearts of the 
most supine, and to move the consciences 
of the most sin-stricken. The arrows of 
conviction went home right and left, and 
there was a large ingathering of souls at 
the close. Mr. Moody used, by way of 
illustration, a very touching chapter of per- 
sonal family history that brought tears to 
many eyes. 

At the three o'clock service for women 
the hall was filled to overflowing an hour 
before the time. The women are quite as 
determined in their efforts to get in as the 
stronger sex, and some say not quite so 
well behaved under the trying conditions 
of a crowd. I suppose, however, there 
must be some allowance made at this spe- 
cial season, and if one could be certain that 
they are all as anxious (as Mr. Moody said 
he hoped) to press into the kingdom, a lit- 
tle roughness of demeanor may well be 
overlooked. To my mind, these Sunday 
afternoon meetings for women have been 
the most wonderful of all, and certainly 
not the least important, when we consider 
the power for good or evil that must be 
exerted by so many thousands of our 
mothers and sisters. I must say these 
meetings have proved that the women are 
not only quicker in their apprehension of 



the truth, but more honest and courageous 
in avowing their apprehension of it. At 
the close of Mr. Moody's searching ad- 
dress on " Excuses," a very considerable 
proportion of the audience promptly stood 
up to show that they wished to excuse 
themselves no longer from accepting the 
gracious invitation to the marriage supper 
of the Lamb. Mr. Moody spoke to the 
inquirers that filled the inquiry-room, in 
language and by illustration so beautifully 
simple and apt, that it is almost impossi- 
ble to conceive any difficulty could have 
remained in their minds. At the same 
time Mr. Sankey addressed, in a very art- 
less, homely, and touching way, a large 
body of anxious inquirers who remained 
in the hall. 

Mr. Sankey's singing at this service was 
peculiarly appropriate and effective. At 
the opening, he sang that solemn and ten^ 
der invitation to the feast, " Yet there is 
room," and when Mr. Moody had ceased 
speaking*, and the whole assembly was 
hushed in silent prayer, he broke the death- 
like stillness, by singing, in subdued and 
pleading tone, " Almost persuaded." His 
rendering of this hymn, which in some 
parts could only be compared to a wail of 
sorrow at lost opportunities, sent a deep 
thrill through the hearts of those thousands 
of listeners. 

The inquiry-meetings for men, at which 
Mr. Moody re-delivered the address on 
" Excuses," was another season of pente- 
costal power, and the Holy Ghost was 
present to wound and to heal, to kill and 
to make alive. 



VII. 

Mr. Moody, before leaving Liverpool, 
addressed an immense meeting in behalf 
of the Young Men's Christian Association, 
and laid the corner-stone of the new build- 
ing, and in the evening held a service at 
Victoria Hall for young men under 35 
years of age. On the two following days, 
there was a Convention, at which Mr. 
Moody presided, and which was very large- 
ly attended. 

The closing services were held on Sun- 
day, the 7th of March, at eight a. m., for 
Christian workers; at eleven a. m., for 
young converts and inquirers; at three 
p. M., for women only ; and at eight p. m., 
for men only. Each of these services was 
very largely attended. For two hours be- 
fore the proceedings commenced hundreds 



LONDON. 



ii 



of people besieged the building, eager to 
secure admission. Mr. Sankey was not 
present, but Mr. Moody delivered appro- 
priate addresses, exhorting his audiences 
to perseverance, and commending the 



efforts of the ministers who promised 
to take his place in a series of services, 
to be held this month in the capacious 
building in which they were then assem- 
bled. 



THE WORK IN LONDON. 



The prescribed limits of this narrative 
will not permit anything like a complete 
or consecutive account of all the daily 
scenes and incidents in connection with 
the labors of the Evangelists in London. 
The following extracts from the religious 
journals will enable the reader, however, 
to obtain some glimpses of the work of 
ten or twelve days, and the impression made 
on the minds and hearts of men in all 
ranks and conditions of life. 



I. 

The four months' evangelistic work in 
London with which Messrs. Moody and 
Sankey propose to bring their sojourn in 
Britain to a close, was begun on the even- 
ing of Tuesday, March 9th. During the 
first month the meetings are to be held at 
the Agricultural Hall, Upper-street, Isling- 
ton. The following month, it is proposed, 
will be spent at the West-end. The third, 
in all likelihood, will be devoted to the 
East-end, where the meetings are to be 
held in a building at present in course of 
construction for the express purpose. This 
edifice is situated near the junction of the 
Mile - end and Burdett roads, and is ex- 
pected to be ready by the end of April. 
The southern quarter of the metropolis 
will thus fall to be visited last ; though we 
believe it has not yet been finally decided 
whether " the leafy month of June " will 
be allotted to the East-end or to the South- 
side. The use of the Agricultural Hall 
has been secured by the committee for ten 
weeks, extending from the 28th of Febru- 
ary to the 9th of May, at the rent of ^50 
a week. The arrangements made to adapt 
this immense edifice to the purpose of the 
meeting have necessarily been on a most 
extensive scale, and have involved a large 
amount of expense, and the exercise of no 
inconsiderable skill ; for, like Bingley Hall 
at Birmingham, it is simply a great shed 
designed for the exhibition of prize cattle, 



and especially for the famous Smithfield 
Show of fat stock, which annually, in the 
depth of the winter season, attracts so 
many of our country cousins up to town. 
In the body of the hall, 12,000 new cane- 
bottomed chairs have been placed, to sup- 
plement the 2,000 already belonging to 
the establishment ; and there are besides 
forms capable of accommodating 2,000 
persons. The lighting of the place 
has been effected by means of large 
gas chandeliers hanging from the vault- 
ed roof, with lines of gas jets along 
the sides of the building. The thousands 
of burners that bead the walls, and which, 
with the chandeliers, yield an abundance 
of light, run in straight lines save at the 
centres where they rise in three semi-cir- 
cular arches. The acoustic properties of 
the hall are greatly aided by an immense 
sounding - board over the speaker's plat- 
form. At the centre of this platform there 
is a small dais, covered with red cloth, 
and having a slight rail round it, and a 
little book - board at one corner. This is 
for the president of the meeting. On his 
right are the seats for the choir, and Mr. 
Sankey's American chamber organ, the 
latter placed by itself in a projecting 
square. The seats on the left are for the 
committee and others taking part in the 
service. A broad strip of red cloth runs 
round beneath the lines and arches of 
light, and this, besides serving as a pleasant 
bit of color, bears appropriate passages in 
white lettering. The first of these, on the 
right of the platform, is — " Repent ye, and 
believe the Gospel ;" the first on the left — 
"The gift of God is eternal life." The 
Central Noon Prayer -meeting Committee, 
which is the body charged with the man- 
agement of Messrs. Moody and Sankey's 
services, has for the present its headquar- 
ters fixed at the Agricultural Hall. The 
meetings commence each evening, except 
Saturday, at 7:30; doors open at 6:30. On 
Saturday, when the Evangelists rest, there 



II 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



will l ' noon meeting is to 

Exeter Hall from 

rsopen at cloven. This 

•.\ ill be regularly conducted by 

- inkey will also take 
rvice. On the Saturday, how- 
just indicated, they will 
ter Hall. 



II. 

OPENING SERVICES. — SCENES 
OUTSIDE. 

TUESDAY evening, the 9th of March, will 
long be memorable in the north of Lon- 
don, as the occasion of the first of the ser- 
in the Agricultural Hall. Long be- 
fore the hour appointed, large and small 
groups were wending their way to the north 
from all quarters of London — each group 
we'll provided with the blue-grey covered 
hymn-book, or the more pronounced yel- 
low, red, or blue music books. Of all ages, 
from the white - headed grandsire to the 
babe in arms — of all stations, from the 
dignitaries of the empire to the low-class 
workmen and laborers — of all grades, from 
the highest Christian working ladies of the 
land to the lowest women of evil lives — the 
twilight met them seeking the Hall in 
thousands ; «nd after the Hall was filled, 
the doors closed, and the adjoining hall 
filled also, thousands upon thousands 
came, saw the closed doors, and turned 
away to give place to other disappointed 
thousands following them. The infidels 
were present also in foolish force outside 
the Hall, distributing handbills full of the 
most false and malignant misstatements, 
pretending to describe Sunday discourses 
of Mr. Moody which have not yet beeii given. 

loody and Sankey's Hymns, one 
penny ! with all the music, one shilling ! !" 
" Moody and Sankey's photographs, six- 
pence each ! " " Life of Moody and San- 

•vith likeness, one penny!" "Wood- 
en image of a tumbler, christened Moody 
for the occasion, one penny ! " " Italian 
organman playing ' The gate's ajar,' chris- 
tened Sankey, and requested to accompany 
himself." All these together formed such 
a crowded and ever-shifting illustration of 

uity Fair" as John Bunyan never 
dreamed of. Many policemen to keep the 
way ; multitudes of young men full of fun 
and joking, multitudes also of evil women 
and girls gaily dressed joining in the ri- 
baldry ; the two together forming a mass 



of well - dressed but disreputable black- 
guardism ; proving to demonstration that 
the American Evangelists had come exactly 
where they were sorely needed at last. 

Omnibus-men, cab-men, tram-car-men, 
board-men, and loafers of every descrip- 
tion, took part in the universal carnival. 
Oaths, jests, slang, ribaldry, and mockery 
were all let loose together ; but not one 
serious face, not one thoughtful counte- 
nance, — not an apparent thought of God's 
judgment, or of eternity, in all the vast 
changing multitude shut outside. 

After the service within had ended, and 
partly during its continuance, detachments 
of choirs belonging to the neighboring 
missions had stationed themselves adjoin- 
ing the Hall, and occupied themselves in 
singing the " song and solos," and deliver- 
ing addresses of the briefest character. 
Some of these groups were too close to- 
gether; and the effect was exceedingly- 
bad, as the songs were inextricably min- 
gled, and thus caused to suggest anything 
but serious thought. This, however, was 
speedily remedied by the incorporation of 
the choirs, when better work was done. 
But all seemed in vain ; the very spirit of 
mockery seemed to possess the great ma- 
jority. There was nothing like spiteful 
opposition, much less of interference ; rather 
the singers and speakers were regarded as 
amiable enthusiasts, who had rashly deliv- 
ered themselves to the merciless mockery 
of a London mob. 

Was there any good done by these open- 
air services ? Certainly : if only for the 
unflinching but temperate stand made by 
the Lord's servants in showing themselves 
on the Lord's side ; and, doubtless, when 
this persistent bitter wind will allow of 
earnest speaking taking its full share in the 
work, much better things will fall to be re- 
ported. 

THE SCENE WITHIN. 

Long before the hour appointed to com- 
mence the service, the enormous Hall was 
filled to its utmost capacity, and the doors 
were shut. The building consists of a vast 
central space open to the roof, which is 
arched — constructed of iron and glass, and 
sides with a gallery running round the build- 
ing, which is oblong in form. One side to 
the gallery is boarded in for inquiry-rooms ; 
in the centre of this side, a platform, hold- 
ing 500 persons, is erected, and from the 
front of the platform the addresses are 
given. Seats are provided for about 1 2,000 



LONDON. 



*3 



persons, beyond the seats already in the 
building. Large temporary galleries are 
also erected at each end ; so that the 
whole vast audience is in full sight of the 
speakers on the platform ; and the view of 
this vast audience is a sight that is majestic 
fr(5m its very magnitude. 

THE SERVICES. 

When, upon the word given, the vast 
multitude arose to sing together, the effect 
was wonderful ; not so much for the mag- 
nitude as the full, deep, rolling volume of 
sound issuing from voices uttering music 
known most probably to every one in the 
building. 

To pass the time pleasantly, various 
hymns were sung until the time appointed ; 
when Mr. Moody took the president's 
place, and Mr. Sankey sat down to his in- 
strument. There was some applause as 
they entered, as also at the conclusion of 
Mr. Sankey's solo ; but both were immedi- 
ately hushed by those who remembered 
they were met for the worship of God. 

The commencing word was Praise — 
" Praise God, from whom all blessings flow." 
" Praise God," said the chairman, " for what 
He is going to do for London." Then 
earnest prayer followed, and the iooth 
Psalm was sung. Silent prayer followed. 
Then Mr. Moody led an audible prayer, 
and Mr. Sankey sang " Jesus of Nazareth 
passeth by." The whole audience joined 
in singing " Rock of Ages," and then fol- 
lowed Mr. Moody's address of the evening. 

He read i Cor. i. 17 to end; but after 
speaking for a short time, was interrupted 
by a man who wa,s not sober. " When a 
man is in liquor," said the president, " and 
makes a noise, he ought to be removed ; 
we will therefore sing the 61st hymn while 
this is done." Seized upon energetically 
by five strong hall stewards, the drunken 
one was speedily removed, the stewards 
receiving an injunction to "be careful " as 
they passed the platform. Then Mr. 
Moody resumed and concluded his ad- 
dress. The meeting concluded by all the 
people singing " Hold the fort," with such 
vigor and effect, that the sound was heard 
and recognized in the neighboring streets. 
Then prayer and benediction closed the 
evening, as there was no after-meeting. 

THE DAILY PRAYER-MEETING. 

The next day, Wednesday, March 10, at 
noon, the first daily prayer-meeting was 
held in Exeter Hall, Strand. Long before 



the hour of commencing, the Hall was 
filled to overflowing in every part but the 
platform ; and it seemed lamentable to 
keep hundreds of seats empty for those 
who did not come, and shut outside those 
who were anxious to occupy them — the 
noise of disappointed applicants being dis- 
tinctly audible during the meeting. Pre- 
cisely at noon Messrs. Moody and Sankey 
and the Committee appeared, and the meet- 
ing commenced by singing" Sweet hour of 
prayer," followed by requests, silent and 
audible prayer, and the singing of " The 
Great Physician." Mr. Moody's address 
followed from Jer. xxxii. 27, " Is there any- 
thing too hard for me?' in which he said, 
" This is God's challenge to Christians to 
call upon Him — to cast out all ' ifs,' all 
doubt and unbelief, and rely joyfully upon 
the Lord God who made heaven and 
earth." He also read a most touching ex- 
tract from the first letter received in Lon- 
don concerning a child, who had proposed 
to wait for their coming, to be a Christian ; 
but had found the pearl of great price, and 
been " called home " before they reached 
the city. Mr. Sankey then sang " The 
ninety and nine," and the meeting was 
thrown open. Two or three brethren fol- 
lowed in prayer, and the meeting closed. 

THE SECOND EVENING. 

On Wednesday evening, March 10, the 
second meeting was held in the Agricul- 
tural Hall. The attendance was not nearly 
so large as on the first evening, resulting 
from the fact that Mr. Moody requested 
the doors to be closed at half-past seven, 
thus preventing many thousands who were 
unable to attend so early from gaining ad- 
mission. The services commenced with 
prayer and singing. Mr. Moody then read 
part of Ezek. xxxiv. and Luke xv., com- 
menting as he went on, then announced 
the coming meetings on the Lord's day, at 
8 a.m. for workers, at 3 p.m. for women, 
and at 8 p.m. for men. Tickets would be 
issued for all these meetings. Then silent 
prayer, and singing " Lord, I hear of show- 
ers of blessing." 

Mr. Moody then spoke from Luke xix. 
10, " The Son of man is come to seek and 
to save that which was lost." It was speed- 
ily apparent that great blessing from on 
high was present in that meeting. The ad- 
dress was full of power; anecdote, illustra- 
tion, Scripture entreaty, persuasion, suc- 
ceeded each other again and again, with 
lightning speed and force, while the vast 



14 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



audience listened intently. As the interest 
heightened, and story after story was told, 
many could be seen wiping the tears 
openly, apparently unconscious of what 
they were doing. The graphic picture of 
the meeting of Bartimeus and Zaccheus, 
after the former had been healed, was 
thoroughly enjoyed; and the quiet hit at 
those ' : who don't believe in sudden con- 
versions," in the statement that Zaccheus 
" was converted between the branches and 
the ground," was greatly enjoyed. The 
story that followed, of " the young man 
converted on his mother's grave," gave 
occasion for an impassioned appeal to turn 
to Jesus then and there. Silent prayer 
followed the conclusion of the address ; 
and, amid a hush that was almost awful, 
the sound of music floated on the air, and 
Mr. Sankey sang softly " Come home — 
come home." Every head bowed, thou- 
sands earnestly praying, while the soft 
music seemed to enter into the very souls 
of that mass of humanity, bowing and 
swaying even the hardest to thoughts of 
repentance and prayer. Then Lord Rad- 
stock concluded with prayer, and the 
hymn, " I hear Thy welcome voice," was 
sung as Mr. Moody went from the Hall to 
the first inquiry meeting in London. Many 
hundreds followed him, but whether work- 
ers or inquirers did not at the time appear, 
and it is far too early yet to speak of re- 
sults. 

Thursday, March n. — Mr. Moody pre- 
sided for the second time at the noon 
prayer-meeting. There was also a falling 
off in the attendance here compared with 
the day before ; but the great Hall was 
nearly filled, and would doubtlessly have 
been filled to overflowing during the ser- 
vice had the doors remained open. The 
first hymn was, " Lord, I hear of showers 
of blessing," followed by one new to Lon- 
don, entitled " Wondrous love," but which 
will assuredly become a special favorite. 
Silent and audible prayer followed the 
classified requests for prayer; and after, 
Mr. Moody spoke in explanation and de- 
fence of " inquiry meetings," instancing 
many such meetings from the Scriptures, 
and asserting that the inquiry meetings 
ought to be credited with four-fifths of the 
work done. He was just a very little bit- 
ter in saying, " I don't know what some 
men would do at a Pentecost," or his 
earnestness seemed intensified to bitterness; 
but this disappeared when he spoke of a 
boy of fourteen with a Bible under his 



arm, whom he had met in the inquiry- 
room the previous night, and asked as to 
his presence there ? The boy replied that 
he was a Christian, hoped to meet some 
little boy like himself to tell about Jesus. 
Afterward, the boy was seen kneeling with 
another in a corner. Mr. Sankey also spoke 
earnestly in defence of the inquiry-room — 
asking objectors to visit and see for them- 
selves instead of finding fault beforehand ; 
adding, warmly, " It don't take half a man 
to find fault." The meeting ended as 
usual; but after its close, there appeared 
to be an impromptu reunion of nearly all the 
evangelical workers in London; the re- 
semblance being almost perfect to one of 
the evening conferences at Mildmay Park. 

THE THIRD EVENING SERVICE. 

This was much more largely attended 
than the second, every seat in the Hall 
being occupied, and the galleries well filled. 
The choir sang several hymns before the 
service commenced with the well-known 
" Maggie Lindsay " hymn (as it is called 
here), " The gate ajar," followed by prayer. 
" The Great Physician '" was next sung, 
and the reading followed from Luke x., 
being the parable of the good Samaritan, 
in which the priest and Levite were used 
as types of churchmen and dissenters to 
the credit of neither party. " Rock of 
Ages " was next sung, and Mr. Moody re- 
sumed his discourse of the preceding 
evening from Luke xix. 10. Much better 
order was observed than at the commence- 
ment of the previous evening, the meeting 
being admirably controlled. The address 
was most solemn and searching in charac- 
ter, concluding with an exhortation to im- 
mediate and final decision. Mr. Moody 
ended his discourse by prayer. Then 
" Safe in the arms of Jesus " was sung, 
then silent prayer ; next, " Guide me, O 
Thou great Jehovah ! " then the benedic- 
tion and the inquiry meeting. 

Friday, March 12. — At eleven o'clock 
in London, the weather was of the most 
severe and trying description — hail, rain, 
snow, slush, and a bitter east wind over 
and through all. Nevertheless, the Great 
Hall for the noon prayer-meeting had a 
glorious gathering, and there were quite as 
many present as on the previous day ; but 
notably men ; the ladies could not face the 
terrible cold and sleet. 

Mr. Moody took his position punctually 
at noon,- and announced the hymn, u Sweet 
hour of prayer," followed by multitudes ot 



LONDON. 



i5 



classified requests for prayer, the classifi- 
cation giving a somewhat bizarre character 
to the requests, as, " Eleven sisters ask 
prayer for brothers." Mr. Moody resumed 
his previous noon discourse, " On the in- 
quiry-room," instancing various faulty 
methods of dealing with inquirers, particu- 
larly condemning the statement often made, 
" Believe that you are saved, and you are 
saved ;" and pointing out that saving faith 
must be faith on the Son of God. He 
passed on to consider right methods of 
dealing with anxious ones, giving many 
valuable hints and texts as he went along, 
speaking earnestly against mere discussion 
on his way. When Mr. Moody concluded, 
Mr. Sankey sang "Nothing but leaves." 
Has Mr. Sankey been listening to critics ? 
The writer heard him sing the same hymn 
with far more effect in Glasgow at the con- 
vention. In London there was more of the 
artist^ but it seemed less of the earnest 
gospel singer. In Glasgow, it was solemn- 
izing and thrilling! In London, it was 
very nice! (N.B. — These are not the 
writer's criticisms, but the opinions ex- 
pressed.) After singing, a gentleman (name 
unknown) spoke earnestly of the way and 
the need ofl> working for Jesus. He was 
followed by another, who told a touching 
story of how the lost are found in London. 
A tract distributor offered a man a tract 
on Waterloo Bridge ; it was declined with 
the remark, " I shall be in hell before 
night;" the words were heard and answer- 
ed, " No, you will not, for I'm going to 
heaven, and will stick to you all day." 
They left the bridge together, the hungry 
man was supplied with food and taken to a 
place of worship. There he fell asleep. 
" Perhaps he has been walking all night," 
said his friend ; "let him sleep !" Service 
over, he was conveyed home to supper, in- 
quiring concerning all this kindness, 
" What's up ? " He was fed, tended, 
reasoned with, instructed, and, brought to 
the way of heaven instead of being in hell, 
as he had said. 

REVIEW OF THE DAYS. 

So ends the first three of Mr. Moody's 
noon prayer-meetings and the first three 
nights of work in London. And it is 
simple truth to state, that such meetings 
were never held before in London, if ever 
they were- in the world's history. In three 
days of noon and evening service, about 
eighty thousand have listened to the glorious 
gospel of the blessed God. Well might 



Mr. Moody express his thankfulness to 
God — the encouragement he had received 
and felt, and his deep sense of the sympa- 
thy and help extended to him and his col- 
league in their great work. Well might he 
dissolve in broken accents and tears of en- 
treaty for a rich blessing on himself and 
those who, laboring with him, will share 
his eternal rest and reward. Surely, when 
bankers and rich merchants, and ministers 
holding high official positions, are content 
to be doorkeepers, it must be said, " We 
never saw it after this fashion," and this 
was exactly the case at the door of Exeter 
Hall yesterday. 

On Friday evening, March 12, the last 
meeting of Messrs. Moody and Sankey for 
the week was held in the Agricultural Hall. 
The audience exceeded in number every 
night but the first. As far as the eye could 
reach there was the same dense multitudes 
above and below. 

Mr. Moody gave notice that on Saturday 
evening there would be addresses by va- 
rious ministers ; Sunday services as before 
mentioned; Monday evening Rev. J. 
Spurgeon would preach, while Mr. Moody 
met anxious inquirers. On Tuesday, Wed- 
nesday, Thursday, and Friday there would 
be two daily services, at 3 and 8 p.m., when 
the same address would be repeated daily. 
Tickets would be issued for all these meet- 
ings. He then read Matt, vi., from 19th 
verse to end. Mr. Sankey read from Mark 
x. of Bartimeus, and sang " Jesus of Naz- 
areth passeth by.V The effect of this 
melody was simply wonderful in its stilling 
power on the audience ; the sibillation of 
the " s " at the end of the line could be 
distinctly heard in a quiet as of death. 
Mr. Moody took for his text Isa. lv. 6, 
stating, for two evenings he had dwelt on 
man seeking God, but now he would speak 
of God seeking man; yet recommending 
earnestness in seeking God by many touch- 
ing incidents and suggestions. This, among 
others, he thought. " the dying thief might 
have had a praying mother." He also 
turned to the ministers around him and 
asked, " Did they believe that God was 
present, and willing to save?" and was in- 
stantly answered by an audible " Yes." A 
tearful, impassioned appeal followed to all 
classes to seek the Lord, and He would 
assuredly be found. Silent prayer succeed- 
ed, and Mr. Sankey sang " Almost per- 
suaded." Then the audience were dis- 
missed, and all anxious, and all workers, 
were invited to remain, an invitation that 



i6 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



was accepted by several thousands ! The 
whole space under the arched room was 
occupied by seekers and workers, while the 
responses to earnest prayers rolled around 
like the deep tones of the great sea waves 
at night. The Lord was there. Inquirer 
after inquirer made themselves manifest, 
until there were scores in the inquiry- room, 
and scores remaining in the hall speaking 
with the workers there. In the inquiry- 
room were seekers and workers in every 
direction, and very many found peace in 
believing. One fine young man fell to the 
lot of the writer, and it was emphatically 
good to watch the dawning of divine truth 
on the mind, as shown in the intelligent 
face — to see the look of anxiety and fear 
give place to the knowledge and love of 
God — to watch the birth of the soul to 
eternal life bring forth that look of bright- 
ness on the face which is never seen from 
any other cause. One young lady said 
" she was so happy, she seemed to tread on 
air;" and in instance after instance the 
testimony grew and multiplied, till we 
could only rejoice in believing that num- 
bers were born again — not of corruptible 
seed, but of the incorruptible, which liveth 
and abideth for ever. Then the long, hap- 
py evening closed by Mr. Moody calling 
the workers together, and giving some 
brotherly advice and counsel concerning 
the details of work in the inquiry-room. 

Oh for the time of blessing ! Oh for the 
rain upon the weary ! Oh for the coming, 
in mightiest power, of the loving Spirit and 
the King our Brother, among the ruined 
and lost — among the weary and burdened 
laborers on this rough and stony ground ! 
Our Father, hear and answer Thy chil- 
dren's heart-cry, for Jesus' sake ! 

I. WORKERS. 

Sunday, March 14. — On Sunday morn- 
ing, March 14, the usual unbroken quiet of 
Islington experienced a striking change. 
From every direction, solitaires,couples, and 
bands of well-dressed people were hasten- 
ing to the Agricultural Hall. Many parties 
of singers had arranged to meet in their dif- 
ferent localities, and marched with songs 
to their destination. Sunday-school teach- 
ers resident in the line of march near to 
the Hall had invited their fellow - laborers 
to breakfast at a very unusual hour ; while 
the ven4ors of hymns and papers round 
the Hall took their usual week - day posi- 
tions, and transacted a large amount of 
buying and selling, to which multitudes 



made strong and indignant objection. 
Pouring in at all the entrances to the Hall, 
there was speedily convened such a gath- 
ering of its Christian workers as London 
had never seen. It was a complete re- 
union. Friends, whom the exigencies of 
work had separated for years, met and 
clasped hands once more ; young men 
grown old in service met with others in 
like condition, whom they had labored with 
in years of strength ; and comely matrons' 
faces were recognized as those of former 
girls in Sunday-schools. Long before all 
old friends could be recognized and greet- 
ed, the time for the service arrived, and 
the Evangelists stood face to face with 
many thousands of the Christian workers 
of the great Metropolis for the first time. 

Cool, prompt, and business-like as ever, 
Mr. Moody announced the first song would 
be " Hold the fort," which, being recognized 
as peculiarly appropriate to the occasion, 
was sung with a vigor that left nothing to 
be desired. Earnest prayer followed, and 
then the hymn, " Stand up for Jesus." Mr. 
Moody read part of Isaiah vi., ending with, 
" Here am I ; send me ! " and called upon 
Mr. Sankey to sing the melody known by 
that title ; which he did with a little diffi- 
culty, perhaps occasioned by the sharp 
morning air, or perhaps by having been 
not a little overworked recently. Then 
the congregation sang, " I love to tell the 
story," and Mr. Moody's address was given. 

The text was Dan. xii. 3, " They that be 
wise shall shine," etc.; and Mr. Moody pro- 
ceeded to say : We all like to shine, and 
had better own up ! But who shall shine ? 
The wise ! and thus the glorious privilege 
of eternal splendor was held forth to all 
engaged in Christian work ! But personal 
conversion must precede the conversion of 
others by us. And here he narrated a 
striking instance of a Sunday-school super- 
intendent who was not converted, but find- 
ing this to be so, went honestly to his min- 
ister and offered to resign. The minister 
suggested a more excellent way — that the 
superintendent should first turn to the 
Lord at once, and then continue his labors 
This was done ; he turned to the willing 
Saviour, and then became the means of 
the conversion of the teachers and a great 
revival in the school. It was the duty of 
each Christian — not duty, but privilege 
(away with mere duty ! we did not talk of 
duty to wives and mothers, and why in 
religion ?) — to speak to some person daily. 
For twelve years there had scarcely been a 



LONDON. 



i7 



day in which he had not done this. Seek 
out friends, and bring them into the cur- 
rent, that they mfght get a blessing and 
pass it on. We must also get into sym- 
pathy with the unsaved. When he was 
laboring in the school at Chicago, a teacher, 
who was goirig away to die, came to him 
in bitter trouble about his unconverted 
class. He felt his strength too far gone to 
visit them ; they were unsaved, and he was 
leaving them — going away, for ever. Mr. 
Moody procured a carriage, and they went 
together day after day for ten days, until 
the teacher had seen all, pleaded with all, 
and won them all for Jesus. The tearful 
eyes, the pale face, and the deep sym- 
pathy had triumphed for Christ ! Then 
they all met him on the platform, and 
the wave of his hand from the carriage 
was a last, long farewell. The effect pro- 
duced by this narration was very deep. 
Sobs and tears were almost universal. 
The ministers on the platform were wip- 
ing both eyes and glasses, and some were 
literally scooping away the tears with 
their hands. Strong men were weeping 
like children, and the speaker himself 
wept abundantly as he remembered and 
depicted the touching scene. Yes, he 
continued, we must get in sympathy — 
make their case ours, their troubles and 
sorrows ours, and then we shall have 
prevailing power. He spoke of a poor 
mother, whose child had been drowned 
in procuring drift-wood from the river, 
and whom he visited along with his little 
daughter. " If that was me," said my 
child, "wouldn't you feel bad, father? 
Don't you feel bad for the poor mother ? " 
This unlocked the springs of sympathy, 
and I did feel bad for her. I found a 
grave for the poor child, and afterwards 
bought ground for a Sunday - school lot, 
to bury a hundred of our poor little 
scholars. In the midst of a most striking 
scene of weeping, such as that hall had 
never seen before, the address concluded, 
and Mr. Moody attempted to pray. So 
deeply was he moved, that he was com- 
pelled to pause in his prayer, amid dead 
silence, to recover himself, and be able 
to proceed. Then we sang, "Work, for 
the night is coming," and the benediction 
ended the first workers' meeting. 

2. women. 

On Sunday afternoon, at three, the first 
special meeting for women was held. The 
service commenced by singing " The Great 



Physician," after which prayer was offered, 
followed by the hymn, " I hear Thy wel- 
come voice." Mr. Moody read Ps. lvii., 
and Mr. Sankey sang " The ninety and 
nine." Where all the singing is so good, 
it is hard to particularize ; but this seems 
to be one of his own favorites, and is 
most certainly a favorite with the people. 
Then all joined in singing " Free from the 
law," and Mr. Moody commenced his dis- 
course from Gen. iii- 9 : " Where art thou ?" 
Was ever such a gathering of women only, 
convened before, simply to hear the gos- 
pel of the grace of God ? There were, at 
the lowest computation, about 17,000 
women present ; and the power of the Spirit 
was clearly there : tears and sobs and re- 
pressed cries, anxious faces, low, earnest 
words and entreaties for mercy were all 
around, as the discourse proceeded from 
point to point. God was the preacher of 
this sermon, said Mr. Moody ; and though 
the first audience was small, the sermon 
has come rolling down the ages, and many, 
I hope, are asking themselves this question 
now. I am speaking to professors, to 
backsliders, and to those who never made 
profession, but all equally lost. There are 
three steps to ruin — neglecting, refusing, 
despising the good news of God. The 
discourse concluded, Mr. Moody offered 
earnest prayer ; silent prayer followed, and 
then the soft, persuasive strain, " Come 
home," from Mr. Sankey, arose upon the 
meeting, the choir singing the chorus. 
Then all sang the hymn, " Lord, I hear of 
showers of blessing," and the meeting 
closed to allow inquirers to gather. Such 
a number accepted the invitation that the 
large inquiry-room could not contain them, 
and many were spoken to in the bitter 
cold without the room. 

3. MEN. 

The evening service was simply a repe- 
tition of the afternoon, but for men only, 
instead of women. Thousands of women, 
nevertheless, accompanied their male 
friends in hope of admission, but were dis- 
appointed — they could not be admitted. 
Nevertheless, the building was filled to its 
utmost capacity, and the doors were closed 
nearly an hour before the service com- 
menced. The would-be infidel orator of 
London is in the habit of saying that " Re- 
ligion is an affair of priests and women." 
Never again will he be able to repeat that 
taunt, after the meeting on Sunday evening 
last, when nearly 15,000 men of London 



i8 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



were held breathless by the simple preaching 
and singing of the gospel of Christ. Before 
the address was delivered, Mr. Sankey 
sang " Jesus of Nazareth passeth by ; " 
himself singing the verses, and the vast 
multitude joining in singing the last line in 
each verse, thus producing the effect of one 
of the mightiest choruses ever sung on 
earth. After the address the inquiry-room 
was opened, while the meeting in the hall 
continued with praise and prayer. 

So great had been the effect produced, 
so large was the number of inquirers who 
were not " priests " or " women," that 
there were not enough workers present to 
deal with them. Nor can this be wondered 
at. Christians had been entreated and en- 
joined to stay away, that the unconverted 
might have all the room ; and this request 
was too literally obeyed. It may also be 
noted that most of Mr. Moody's best 
helpers have much work of their own on the 
Lord's Day, which cannot be neglected 
even for the inquiry-room. With all the 
will to help, churches, chapels, and missions 
must not be left untended through the 
temptation of the attractive and pleasant 
work provided at Islington. 

The noon prayer-meeting on Monday, 
March 15, was densely crowded — hall, gal- 
leries, and platform presenting an unbroken 
mass of' believers in prayer, quite as well 
able to judge for themselves as any phi- 
losopher was able to judge for them, and 
having that which no unbeliever could 
have — experience — to guide them. After 
singing the hymns " Over there " and 
" Wondrous love," Mr. Moody read part 
of Isa. xii., and then proceeded to devote 
the meeting principally to accounts of the 
Lord's work. He had received accounts 
from Liverpool, that " the real depth of 
the work had just commenced, that it was 
better now than ever." At the Glasgow 
noon meeting, convened, at that time, the 
prayers would be devoted to the work in 
London. The Earl of Cavan read a letter 
from Glasgow concerning the work in the 
Metropolis, and offered prayer in accord- 
ance with the letter. Mr. Quinton Hogg 
made a touching and earnest appeal for 
workers in the inquiry-room, asking if it 
was right that one worker should have ten 
inquirers. The Rev. R. W. Dale gave an 
account of the results of the work in Bir- 
mingham, dwelling largely upon the in- 
quiry-room, asserting, " You know nothing 
of the work until you go there." He also 
spoke of the need of more cheerful singing 



in church worship, which was met by loud 
applause and clapping of hands, which Mr. 
Moody immediately and very decidedly 
repressed. Lord Radstock gave good 
news from Russia, and the meeting closed 
as usual. 

On Monday evening the Rev. J. A. 
Spurgeon delivered the address to a great- 
ly-thinned audience, whiie Mr. Moody at- 
tended to the inquiry-room ; Mr. Sankey 
also appearing on the platform, with the 
Rev. R. W. Dale and many other ministers 
and gentlemen. Mr. Billing, the chairman 
of the committee, invited the anxious and 
inquirers to St. Mary's Hall — an invitation 
that was immediately and largely accepted 
— the audience meanwhile singing " I am 
so glad that our Father in Heaven." Mr. 
Spurgeon offered prayer, followed by " Je- 
sus, Lover of my soul," and the reading of 
Isa. lv., with running comments. Prayer 
by Rev. R. W. Dale, and " What shall the 
harvest be ? " sung by Mr. Sankey. The 
address by Mr. Spurgeon was founded on 
" That spiritual rock . . . Christ." At the 
close of the service it was made known that 
all the workers were required in the inquiry- 
room, and there was no after meeting in 
the hall. 

THE FIRST AFTERNOON MEETING. 

On Tuesday afternoon, March 16, at 
three o'clock, the first afternoon meeting 
was held. There were about seven or eight 
thousand persons present, comprising those 
who were not occupied in their daily call- 
ings, with not a few lads and girls among 
them. The service commenced with " Re- 
joice, and be glad,' to a well-known Prim- 
itive Methodist tune, which was heartily 
sung by all present. Prayer followed, 
and Mr. Sankey sang " There's a light in 
the valley," — not at all an easy melody, or 
likely to become popular. Mr. Moody 
read from John iii., and the meeting sang 
"Rock of Ages." Mr. Moody took for 
text, " Except a man be born again," say- 
ing they had better get the text than the 
sermon ; there was life in the text. Men 
were not baptized 'but born into the kingdom 
of God. They must be born again, regen- 
erated. Regeneration was not going to 
church — Satan went to church ; not read- 
ing the Bible, not praying — Saul prayed 
daily before conversion ; not attending the 
Lord's Supper — Judas did that, but was 
not regenerated ; nor was it trying your 
best, as a woman told here in the inquiry- 
room, and was answered, " That's the way 



LONDON. 



19 



down to the pit ! " Nor was it baptism ; 
if regeneration could come by baptism, he 
would leave off preaching and take to bap- 
tizing — if he could save by baptism, he 
would get a bucket and baptize all whom 
he could come,near. Has not God a right 
to save in His own time and way, and on 
His own terms ? If you could save your- 
self, on your own terms, you could not 
make them so easy as God has made them. 
No man could save himself; God must 
save him. Under the law it was " Do and 
live ; " under grace it was, Live and do. 
The address concluded with the story of 
the wounded soldier, who sent for Mr. 
Moody " to help him to die ! " who was 
brought to peace in believing by the repe- 
tition of John iii. 14, " As Moses lifted up 
the serpent," etc. After the address the 
audience sang " There is life for a look," 
and the service ended. There were more 
workers than inquirers in the room at the 
close of the meeting, 

THE EVENINCx GATHERING. 

At the meeting in the evening, the ad- 
dress was repeated to the largest gathering 
yet crowded into the Hall. The demand 
for " more seats " was responded to as far 
as possible ; but when the last seat was 
taken, many thousands were excluded who 
would willingly have heard the gospel. 
The hymns were varied from those sung in 
the afternoon, but the reading and the ad- 
dress were the same. Prayer was offered. 
Mr. Sankey sang the hymn called " Mary 
Magdalene." The meeting concluded with 
audible and silent prayer, and the hymn, 
" I hear Thy welcome voice." The crowd 
that retired to the^ inquiry-room was so 
large that hundreds sought admission in 
vain, and some were spoken to outside St. 
Mary's Hall. Whether those within were 
inquirers or workers could not be distinct- 
ly ascertained, as admittance could not be 
given. 

The address at the noon prayer-meeting 
on Tuesday and Wednesday was on the 
subject of " Prayer," founded on " Ask, and 
ye shall receive," etc. The three words 
described three classes — those who ask, who 
seek, and who knock. Some ask, and don't 
give God time to answer. He heard of a 
little boy who asked for his father's razor, 
and when denied, cried because his father 
didn't love him : some asked God for 
razors ! Many who thoroughly understood 
praying for others did not know how to 
pray for themselves, as Moses, Elijah, and 



Paul. The sweetest thing he had ever 
learned was to let God choose for him. 
God gave Christ without asking ; what 
would He give on asking ? A dozen knock- 
ing Christians would bring a mighty bless- 
ing on London. After the address Mr. 
Sankey sang, " Knocking, knocking," and 
the meeting was thrown open for prayer. 

The meetings at the Hall in the after- 
noon and evening of March 17 were most 
encouraging. There was a very large 
gathering in the afternoon, and in the 
evening there was not a vacant seat to be 
seen. Before singing, Mr. Sankey led in 
earnest prayer for a blessing, and then sang 
with solemn feeling the hymn, " O Christ, 
what burdens bowed Thy head." Mr. 
Moody read from Gal. v., with a few com- 
ments, and we sang " There is a fountain." 
Mr. Moody's address was from John iii. 
14, continuing the subject of the previous 
day. He commenced by asserting the 
greatest sin was unbelief; that no man then 
present would be lost unless he refused and 
despised the remedy God had provided. 
He instanced the supposed case of a man 
in consumption, near death and hopeless, 
visited by a friend who had been cured, 
and who had brought the remedy that had 
cured him — as a free gift. If the con- 
sumptive died, he died because he had re- 
fused the remedy. Mr. Moody proceeded 
to instance various ways in which the rem- 
edy was declined and refused ; illustrating 
as he went in broadly dramatic fashion, 
which caught and held the thousands of 
enthralled listeners. " Suppose," said he, 
" a young man dying of serpent-bite. His 
mother waiting, watching, hearing of the 
serpent just set up, and putting her arms, 
strengthened by love, round her dying, 
perhaps her only son, and dragging him to 
the door of the tent. There she sees him 
look and live ; strength returns to his 
limbs, color to his cheek, and joy to his 
heart. So is it when the sinner looks to 
Jesus — looks his sin and sorrow away to- 
gether. Mr. Moody next pictured one 
bitten who would not look until he could 
understand the philosophy of cure by look- 
ing, and who died in his unbelief. The 
address concluded by the narration of an 
incident concerning a Jew, who came to 
the Chicago prayer-meeting just when it 
was ended. He had met the text, " It is 
appointed unto men once to die," etc., and 
it had broken him down; and he had 
heard of the prayer-meeting, and came 
there to be taught. Mr. Moody spoke to 



20 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



him of Jesus, but the Jew scowled in unbe- 
lief, and asked to be taught of the God of 
Abraham. Mr. Moody agreed to pray 
with him to Abraham's God for enlighten- 
ment concerning Jesus. The Jew pros- 
trated himself with his forehead to the 
ground, and prayed earnestly for light and 
direction ; and as he sought he found. 
" Oh, I would," continued Mr. Moody, " I 
could say something to move you, that 
would rouse the whole of you ! One young 
man who was here last week, and declared 
his intention to attend the inquiry-room 
this week, is now in his coffin. Don't leave 
unsaved ! " While " Almost persuaded " 
was solemnly sung, numbers left for the 
inquiry-room, whither we will now follow. 

THE INQUIRY-ROOM — ST. MARY'S HALL. 

St. Mary's Hall is a large concert-room, 
with chairs on the floor fronting the plat- 
form, and a deep gallery round the sides 
and end of the hall. Mr. Moody divided 
the inquirers, leaving the women on the 
basement, and sending the men into the 
gallery, and directed the workers to divide 
in the same way. All round the gallery 
were men in twos and threes, to the num- 
ber of two or three hundred — each couple 
or three separated from their neighbors, 
and earnestly engaged in their own work, 
without taking any notice of those near 
and around. Here was a couple discussing 
a difficulty in the way. There another 
couple earnestly reading passages of God's 
word. Next was one pleading earnestly 
with another. Next one whose work was 
done, as the close, loving hand-clasp 
showed. . Many were striving together in 
prayer, two by two. Here a worker ear- 
nestly asking for the light to come. There 
another pressing the inquirer to pray for 
himself, and others praying earnestly to- 
gether. The writer had the pleasure of 
speaking with three in succession. The 
first was a young man who had made long, 
wearying endeavor to work out salvation ; 
he had been trying hard to come to Jesus, 
but neither work nor trial had brought the 
assurance of faith. To one so much in 
earnest it was most pleasant to show salva- 
tion as the gift of God, and a little patience 
was richly rewarded by the dawning of the 
light. Then said he, " /" see it now ; please 
to leave me alone with God! " Most reve- 
rently and willingly this was done, and the 
second was spoken to ; he also promised to 
accept the gift, and left to kneel before the 
Lord in seeking, as he was compelled to go. 



The third had long had a form of godli- 
ness, but neither its power nor hope — he 
was just a sleeping nominal church mem- 
ber, who did not wish to be disturbed. He 
had wandered into the inquiry-room, think- 
ing it was public, and he should hear an 
address. Unable to deal satisfactorily with 
him, the attention of another brother was 
called to him, and we passed on round the 
gallery. On returning, this one was pray- 
ing earnestly, the second was gone, and the 
face of the first showed better than any 
words that he had lost his burden. Passing 
below to leave, a lady who was talking to 
three working girls claimed help, as help 
had been claimed in the case above. We 
held conversation, and speedily all three 
declared themselves on the Lord's side ; 
and the bright, earnest young faces glowed 
with the thought of the gift received, and 
the " covenant unto death " with Jesus. As 
we saw, so we heard of many to whom light 
and peace came ; nor was it the least impres- 
sive to mark how willingly help was given 
and received, how entirely absent were evi- 
dences of self and self-seeking. Conversions 
all around, an atmosphere of prayer and the 
word of God, the subdued hum of con- 
versation with each other, and converse 
with the Father through the Son, gave a 
sense of " nearness of access," of personal 
presence, of a very present and loving help, 
that was as sweet as it was solemn. Verily 
it " was good to be there ! " It was just 
eleven o'clock when, after three hours of 
delightful service, " the labor was done, and 
the laborers gone home." 

Thursday, 18th. — There was the usual 
crowded hall at the noon prayer -meeting 
on Thursday, March 18. Mr. Moody 
spoke on " Prayer," specially the disciples' 
prayer, commonly called the " Lord's 
Prayer ;" but, said he, the Lord's Prayer is 
found in John xvii. The principal point 
was the forgiveness in order to be forgiven. 
When he spoke of a woman whcm he had 
exhorted to forgiveness, but who would 
not, he told she could not be saved until 
she forgave her foe. " Then," she re- 
plied, " I'll never be saved, for I'll never 
forgive her ;" and she went mad ! He 
spoke also of two girls who were impressed, 
who had been at variance, but forgave 
each other, and were themselves forgiven. 
It must not be, as some said, I can forgive, 
but cannot forget ; but must be, as God 
does, both forgive and forget. He spoke 
also of believing we received what we de- 
sired. Speaking of an ophan boy who had 



LONDON. 



21 



been adopted into a family, and was asked 
if he could pray, and responded by pray- 
ing as he had been taught by his dead 
parents, and adding, " Please make these 
as kind to me as my own father and mother 
were, won't you, Lord? of course you 
will ! " After the address Mr. Sankey 
sang, and several brethren engaged in 
prayer. One of these ended by repeating 
the disciples' prayer, in which the whole 
gathering joined, producing a most striking 
effect ; for as the subdued voices rose and 
fell, it was with a thrilling grandeur of 
sound, resembling heavy artillery heard far 
away. 

The service in the Hall in the afternoon 
and evening showed clearly how the wave 
of attraction is rising higher and higher ; 
though, perhaps, the unusual mildness and 
beauty of the day might have allowed many 
to attend who had hitherto been wind- 
bound. The afternoon service commenced 
with " Wondrous love," prayer, " Stand up 
for Jesus," and reading of part of i Cor. 
xv. by Mr. Moody. Then, by special re- 
quest, Mr. Sankey sang the " Ninety and 
nine." Mr. Moody's address was on the 
word "Gospel," or "good news." The 
gospel was angelic news, and it was sung 
before it was preached. It was the knowl- 
edge of the life and death of the Son of 
God/<?r us ! It was the sight of Jesus ; at 
which sight down went Paul into the dust, 
when he drank so deep a draught of con- 
viction that he couldn't eat for three days ! 
Every man likes his enemies out of his 
way, and the gospel took our three great 
enemies — sin, death, and judgment — out of 
our way for ever. For though we might 
die, death had nothing ; the sting of death 
was buried in the bosom of the Son of 
God. . The frontier men on the prairies, 
when they were on fire, set fire to the part 
near them, and when it was burnt bare 
stood upon it, and so saved their lives. 
There's one mountain - peak the fire of 
God's wrath has swept over, and now it is 
safe for ever, and that is Mount Calvary. 
Then he told of a father and son who were 
at enmity for years, but were brought togeth- 
er by the dying wife and mother, but only 
reconciled over her dead body ; so the sin- 
ner was reconciled to God over the dead 
body of the Lord Jesus. Mr. Sankey sang 
" Come home," and the meeting was ad- 
journed to the inquiry-room, whither many 
retired. 

At the repeated service in the evening, 
at eight o'clock, the commencing hymns 



were the iooth Psalm and " Rock of Ages." 
The lesson of the afternoon was also re- 
peated, and Mr. Sankey sang " I love to 
tell the story," the audience joining in the 
chorus. The great hall was crowded to 
the utmost limit, the attention was most 
profound; and when the address closed, 
Mr. Moody announced that the inquiry 
meeting would be held in the gallery, and 
the prayer - meeting in St. Mary's Hall. 
Unhappily, this change of plan had not 
been made known to the stewards; they 
could not hear Mr. Moody in consequence 
of the people moving away, and the con- 
fusion that resulted was dreadful — thou- 
sands of people pressing in different ways, 
the centre of the crush circling round and 
round in vain efforts to escape, while the 
attendants shouted confused and contra- 
dictory direction. The unravelling was 
found by the sheer force of pressure sweep- 
ing the crowd into the wide street in front 
of the building. It is only needful to re- 
member what happened at the Surrey Gar- 
dens when Mr. Spurgeon preached, and to 
think what might have been, to feel and 
express deep and devout thankfulness that 
matters were no worse. 

Friday ; igth. — On Friday, March 19, 
Mr. Moody presided for the last time for 
the week at the noon prayer-meeting. The 
weather was bad, the audience greatly 
thinned, and Mr. Moody appeared to be 
suffering either bodily or mentally, very 
different from his usual happy self-posses- 
sion. In his address on " Prayer," some 
things were said which had been far better 
omitted, being impossible to harmonize 
with his own exhortations to unity in work, 
so often repeated. Altogether, the meeting 
was far beneath that of the day previous 
in numbers, spirit, and power. 

The subject of the address on Friday 
afternoon and evening was " Salvation. " 
There was a very large attendance in the 
afternoon, but in the evening it seemed as 
if a human form was planted in every pos- 
sible place. In front of the platform, and 
on every step of it, there were people 
crowded as closely as possible. The first 
hymn was " Wondrous love ;" prayer fol- 
lowed ; " I hear the Saviour say " came 
next ; and then reading and brief exposi- 
tion of Ps. xl. and part of Acts xvi. Mr. 
Moody remarked on Paul and Silas, with 
backs bleeding, feet in the stocks, and no 
supper, praising God — suggested that our 
praise, if there, would have been, " Hark ! 
from the tombs a doleful sound." Mr. 



22 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



Sankey sang, " Yet there is room ;" and 
Mr. Moody gave the notices for the next 
week and commenced his address. He 
seemed a little straitened at first, but soon 
recovered all his wonted fire, and delivered 
a red-hot discourse on seeking and finding 
salvation. In speaking of leaving all earth- 
ly trust, he mentioned a miller who, in a 
boat asleep, came near the jaws of death 
by the mill - dam ; he found a twig which 
could only stay his deathward progress ; 
he therefore held on, and shouted for help 
with all his power. A friend heard and let 
down a rope (the help must come from 
above), but the miller could not grasp the 
rope until he let go the twig. This he did, 
and was rescued. Mr. Moody next nar- 
rated the well-known story of his own con- 
version by the ministry of the teacher in 
Boston, and his after meeting and influenc- 
ing for Christ the teacher's son. A most 
earnest appeal ended the discourse, and 
the service concluded with prayer. The 
after - meeting was held in two inquiry- 
rooms ; one in the gallery over the platform, 
where a large number of inquirers gathered, 
and many more than double the number 
of workers; and a few were also in St. 
Mary's Hall, with the same large prepon- 
derance of workers. 

Now unto Him that is able to do ex- 
ceeding abundantly above all that we can ask 
or think, according to the power that work- 
eth in us, unto Him be glory in the Church, 
by Christ Jesus, thoughout all ages, world 
without end. Amen. 

MEETINGS ON SUNDAY, 2TSt. 

The morning service at the Agricultural 
Hall, which was for Christian workers only, 
was one of the most satisfactory meetings 
that have been held in London, there being 
about 16,000 persons present, all of whom 
were either Sunday-school teachers or per- 
sons employed in similar Christian work. 
The afternoon service, which was for 
women only, was attended by about 14,- 
000. The evening service was for men 
only. There were about 19,000 present, 
as against fully 20,000 the few preceding 
evenings. Mr. Sankey sang the favorite 
hymn, "Jesus of Nazareth passeth by;" 
Mr. Moody taking for his text the words, 
" He that believeth on me shall be saved." 
The evening service being for men only, 
many who were not aware of the restriction 
came with their wives, whilst others from 
a distance came with young women. It 
was in vain that they pleaded that they had 



come many miles by train ; the orders were 
peremptory, and no women were admitted. 
The committee, to accommodate the large 
number of women who had come, threw 
open St. Mary's Hall, and held a service 
there, conducted by Mr. Leithes, of Liver- 
pool. At this service there were about 
2,000 women present, many of whose com- 
panions were in Agricultural Hall. 



III. 
THE FIRST MONTH IN LONDON. 

The Christian World of April 6th thus 
summarizes the first month's work : 

To - day the American Evangelists, 
whose names are on every lip, enter upon 
the. second month of their London cam- 
paign. They have all but completed the 
series of meetings at the Agricultural Hall, 
in Islington, designed more especially for the 
benefit of the people dwelling in the great 
northern region of the metropolis ; and 
now they are about to enter on the daily 
occupation of a building specially erected 
for their accommodation at the East End. 
From week to week we have furnished our 
readers with full reports of the proceed- 
ings. In this way, the public have been 
enabled to obtain a comprehensive, and we 
believe accurate, view of a series of meet- 
ings that certainly stand without a parallel 
in the religious annals of England. We 
may not be able to say, with a respected 
contemporary, that Mr. Moody is the mod- 
ern Wycliffe — a name we should rather 
assign, if we used it all, to a great English 
preacher who has been proclaiming the 
Gospel to multitudes in London every 
week for more than twenty-one years. 
Neither are we prepared to coincide with 
the magnanimous assertion of a Wesleyan 
Methodist journal, that this movement puts 
the revival which was wrought by Whit- 
field and Wesley into the shade, in respect, 
at least, to the numbers brought under the 
sound of the Gospel. These are state- 
ments, as it seems to us, which would re- 
quire to be greatly qualified before they 
could be accepted by thoughtful men. 
Yet, without going the length of our too 
exuberant friends, we can testify that the 
success of the gatherings over which Mr. 
Moody presides has been simply marvel- 
ous, and in its way quite unexampled, 
either within the memory of living men, or 
in all that has been recorded by the pen of 
the English historian of the Christian 



LONDON. 



23 



Church. Whatever may be the view he 
takes of the work, as to its true spiritual 
significance and value, every candid on- 
looker must acknowledge that the present 
is a phenomenon which cannot be too 
carefully scanned, or too fully described 
by the contemporary journalist. It will 
unquestionably claim for itself a chapter 
of no inconsiderable magnitude in the 
book that deals with the religious history 
of England in the last quarter of the nine- 
teenth century. Some little service to the 
future, as well as to the present-day reader 
may, therefore, be rendered by an attempt 
to gather up the salient points in the story 
of the first month spent by Messrs. Moody 
and Sankey in London. 

And first of all we have to note the sus- 
tained, and it would even seem growing, 
interest which the public take in the meet- 
ings. Every day at noon Exeter Hall has 
been well filled ; often it has been crowded, 
and there is no symptom of any falling off 
in the attendance, while it may be confi- 
dently expected that when the prayer-meet- 
ing is transferred, as it will be on Monday 
next, to Her Majesty's Opera House, the 
audience will be as great as that building 
is able to contain. That the interest in 
the primary purpose of the noon-gathering 
has not declined is made manifest by many 
pleasing tokens. Not the least eloquent of 
these was the statement made by Mr. 
Moody on Wednesday last, that the re- 
quests for prayer received that morning 
numbered no fewer than 180. The reports 
of spiritual work achieved in connection 
with the movement, not only in London, 
but also in the provinces, have been multi- 
plying daily ; and these form a feature of 
the proceedings at Exeter Hall which does 
much to keep alive the interest and to in- 
tensify the fervor of the assembly. Then 
there has been the appearance of new 
speakers from day to day — witnesses to the 
reality of the revival in Scotland, Ireland, 
and provincial towns of England. When 
the meeting is thrown open to volunteers, 
the result has not always been edifying ; 
but Mr. Moody, as a shrewd and ready- 
witted president, keeps the most of the 
time well occupied with a swift and flow- 
ing succession of song, prayer, and ex- 
hortation, so that the hour seems to all 
present to be only too short, and is ob- 
viously most refreshing to their spirits. 
Mr. Moody is, perhaps, seen at his best at 
Exeter Hall. Some of his short addresses 
there have been gems of pithy exposition ; 



and his occasional quaint bits of self-de- 
fence, and frequent touches of mingled 
humor and pathos, have been remarkably 
effective. People from the country -have 
formed a distinctly perceptible element in 
the congregation; and we cannot doubt 
that these, along with the city brethren, 
have derived useful hints from Mr. Moody's 
method for the conduct of prayer-meetings 
in their own places of worship. In this 
way, we think it likely that a great deal of 
good may be done. 

The three afternoon meetings held at 
Sanger's (formerly Astley's) Amphitheatre, 
were among the most successful of all the 
gatherings, and are said to have been the 
most fruitful in spiritual results. The place 
could not hold all the people who flocked 
to them ; and a proportionately larger 
number of the " lapsed masses " were to be 
seen in these South-side gatherings than in 
the assemblies at the Agricultural Hall. 
The two afternoon Bible readings — the 
first held in the Conference Hall at Mild- 
may-park, and the second at Exeter Hall, 
and to both of which admission was pro- 
cured only by ticket — were crammed, and 
they seemed to be greatly enjoyed. 

As for the great meetings, those held 
every night (with the exception of Satur- 
day) at the Agricultural Hall, and thrice 
on Sunday in the same enormous edifice, 
they have continued to attract an average 
attendance of at least eleven or twelve 
thousand down to the very last. On the 
two nights when the address was not given 
by Mr. Moody there was a great falling off 
in the congregation. On Good Friday the 
Times " felt bound " to express its " strong 
conviction that the interest of the meetings 
was rapidly falling off;" but the facts do 
not sustain this view. The largest congre- 
gations have assembled within the last ten 
days ; and these have included all ranks 
and classes of society. Royalty itself, in 
the person of her Royal Highness the 
Duchess of Teck, has expressed its inten- 
tion to come since the leading journal 
proclaimed the turning of the tide. On 
one evening there were at least sixty 
clergymen of the Establishment present, 
with Dean Stanley occupying a conspicu- 
ous seat on the platform ; and on the night 
of Good Friday the evangelical Earl of 
Shaftesbury sat on the same chair which a 
few evenings before had been occupied by 
the Broad Church Dean. Lord Shaftes- 
bury, at the close of the service, paid a 
visit, along with his daughters, to the in- 



24 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



quiry-room. In respect to the numbers of 
the Agricultural Hall congregation, the 
floor of the building is capable of seating 
9,000 persons ; the raised platform for the 
choir and ministers, 250 ; the eastern side 
gallery, 900 ; the western side gallery, 
1,000 ; the upper raised gallery in front of 
the platform, 1,350 ; the balcony in front, 
850 ; and the upper western balcony, 350. 
Even on moderate computation, it would 
seem, that about 350,000 must have been 
the total of the numbers present at the 
Agricultural Hall services during the 
month ; though it must be borne in mind 
that veiy many persons were frequent, and 
not a few constant, attenders. It would 
probably be a liberal allowance if we were 
to say that 200,000 separate individuals 
were present. The arrangements made by 
the committee for the comfort of the con- 
gregation and the preservation of order 
have, from first to last, been admirable. 

With respect to the inquiry-rooms, they 
have been largely attended every night by 
Christian friends, clerical and lay ; and the 
penitents pressing in for spiritual advice 
have, on many occasions, numbered several 
hundreds. But there has been no more 
excitement there than in the public ser- 
vice ; indeed, the proceedings have been 
more subdued, and a quiet, solemn earnest- 
ness has characterized all that has been 
done in connection with this part of the 
work. Several gentlemen taking part in it 
have testified to the good accomplished ; 
and Mr. Sankey in particular, who is active 
in the inquiry-room, describes the work of 
which he was witness on Sunday week, and 
on every succeeding night, as being in the 
highest degree encouraging. Many Chris- 
tian workers, though not so many as Mr. 
Moody desires to see, have scattered them- 
selves among the great audience at the 
ordinary services, for the purpose of speak- 
ing a word to their unconverted neighbors ; 
and a case has been mentioned in which 
the young ladies of a certain seminary 
have, in this way, been instrumental in 
leading twenty individuals to the Saviour. 
With this we may bracket the case of a 
lady who took her ten servants to one of 
the services, and who reports that seven of 
these have been, in consequence, converted 
to God. Mr. Moody has detailed instances 
of persons brought to a knowledge of God 
in the inquiry-room one night, and appear- 
ing on the next with friends whom they 
desired to see sharing the peace which they 
had secured. Since the second Sunday a 



young men's meeting has been held every 
night at St. Mary's Hall, immediately after 
the public service; and latterly this feature 
has come more conspicuously into view, 
and been more pressingly urged upon the 
attention of the class referred to by Mr. 
Moody, who is ambitious of securing a 
band of at least a thousand to assist him 
in his work. 



IV. 

The following discriminating, candid, and 
exhaustive review of the work of the Evan- 
gelists, is from the pen of the Rev. R. W. 
Dale, the successor of John Angel James, 
at Birmingham. It appeared in the March 
number of the Congregationalism and has 
since k been widely circulated in pamphlet 
form. It is here reprinted in full, and 
is well worthy a careful perusal. 

An article which appeared in the Con- 
gregationalist for December, 1872, un- 
der the title " Have we Forgotten Christ ? " 
closed with the following words : " Al- 
ready there are signs that the power of 
Christ is ready to reveal itself again. In 
every part of the country, the despondency 
which has been occasioned by the de- 
pressed condition of the spiritual life in 
Christian people themselves, and the incon- 
siderable success of the Gospel among 
those who are outside, is" giving place to 
courage and hope. Are we ready to receive 
the returning Christ ? Many have prayed 
Him to come back, or rather to reveal His 
presence, which has never really been 
withdrawn from us. Have we learnt how 
sorely we need Him ? Are we prepared to 
fall at His feet, and to confess that ' apart ' 
from Him we 'can do nothing'? If we 
meet Him as we should, there are the 
strongest reasons to believe that He is about 
to baptize us afresh with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire." 

During my absence in the East, the 
Congregationalist contained a series of 
articles on " Religious Revivals," written 
before I left England ; and I had so deep 
a conviction that a great manifestation of 
the powor of God was at hand, that I re- 
turned with a strong hope that I should 
find Church after Church in different parts 
of the country, bright with a new joy, and 
on fire with a new zeal. The hope was not 
fulfilled, and yet it was not altogether dis- 
appointed. At Derby, at Ipswich, and in 
some other places, there was already the 
dawn of a new day ; and in many direc- 



LONDON. 



25 



tions the darkness was beginning to melt, 
and those who had been long watching for 
the morning were growing more and more 
confident that the night was nearly gone. 

In what form the new spiritual movement 
would come, or by what agencies, it seemed 
impossible to predict. In the series of 
articles to which I have referred, it was 
earnestly maintained that " if in our own 
times God comes to us in the greatness of 
His power and in triumphant love, His 
coming may not be manifested in precisely 
the same forms as in any of the great Relig- 
ious' Revivals of former days, and may not 
produce the same effects."* The reforma- 
tion of the monasticism, and the great 
religious movement associated with it, 
extending from the close of the eleventh 
century far into the thirteenth ; the Wal- 
densian revival, which covered a part of 
the same period ; the very remarkable out- 
burst of religious life in the Low Countries 
in the fifteenth century; the Protestant 
reformation of the sixteenth century ; 
English Puritanism ; English Methodism, 
— were singularly unlike each other ; but 
they were all the results of fresh communi- 
cations to the Church of the life and light 
and power of the Holy Ghost. In one case 
there was the earnest and vehement preach- 
ing of Christian morality; in another there 
was a clearer apprehension of those spiritual 
truths which touch, and perhaps cross, the 
boundaries of Mysticism ; in another there 
was a revolt against a priesthood that had 
separated the Church from God, and a re- 
discovery of the doctrine of Justification by 
Faith ; in another a strong assertion of the 
necessity of the new birth. The men who, 
under God, did the work, differed greatly ; 
they were monks ; they were common peo- 
ple ; they were popular orators ; they were 
scholars. Some of them wrote books, 
others preached sermons. Some had re- 
markable powers of organization, and have 
stamped their names on great and perma- 
nent ecclesiastical institutions ; others left 
the new life to take form according to its 
own laws, or to quicken the existing organi- 
zation of the Church. 
_ I thought it possible that in our own 
time the power of God might be specially 
manifested among children and young 
people. Nor has this expectation proved 
altogether unfounded. In several parts of 
England there has sprung up a beautiful 
and happy religious life among children, 

* Congregationalist, Jan. 1873, page 2. 



which is the promise of very large results, 
if we remember with devoutness and faith 
the words of Christ : " Suffer the little 
children to come unto Me." 

But I certainly did not suppose that 
several of the great towns of the three 
kingdoms were to witness a remarkable 
religious movement, originated by two 
American strangers, one of them a man who 
had been trained for his work by his ex- 
perience as a Sunday-school superintendent, 
and the other with a fine baritone voice and 
playing an American organ. 

A few years ago I had read, week after 
week, with great interest, the reports in the 
Chicago Advance of Mr. Moody's addresses 
at the noon-day prayer-meeting in that city ; 
but I had never heard of him as an evangel- 
ist. Indeed, until he came to England he 
had never taken an evangelistic journey. 

It is not my purpose to attempt any 
general view of what these two guests of 
ours have done — or rather of what God has 
done through them — since they have been 
on this side of the Atlantic. They began 
their work, I believe, in York ; but in York 
they had very little success. Their first 
great impression was made in Newcastle. 
In Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, the 
impression was still greater ; in Dublin and 
Belfast greater still. At Manchester and 
Sheffield they collected vast crowds of 
people, and there is reason to believe that 
in both places a very considerable number 
of persons were led to repent of sin and 
to confess the authority and mercy of 
Christ. 

During the last fortnight of the month of 
January they were in Birmingham. Their 
first meeting was held on Sunday morning, 
January 17th, at 8 o'clock, in the Town 
Hall. The meeting was for " Christian 
workers," and the admission was by ticket. 
The morning was cheerless, damp and raw ; 
but the great building was crowded in 
every part. In the afternoon they held an 
open service in the Hall, and thousands 
went away unable to get in. The great 
test, however, of the measure of the expec- 
tation which they had excited came in the 
evening. Last October twelvemonth, when 
Mr. Bright addressed his constituents after 
his return to the Cabinet, he spoke in 
Bingley Hall, a building used for the annual 
cattle show, and as a drill hall for the 
volunteers. Various estimates were made 
of the number of people that listened to 
Mr. Bright on that occasion ; it seems 
probable that most of them fell far short of 



26 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



the truth. At Mr. Bright's meeting in 
October, 1873, there were no seats on the 
floor of the hall, and without seats there is 
now reason to believe that the hall will hold 
between twenty and twenty-five thousand 
people ; it was crowded in every part. For 
the recent religious meetings, the " Moody 
and Sankey Committee " hired upwards of 
nine thousand chairs. On the very first 
Sunday evening, long before eight o'clock, 
when the service commenced, not only were 
all the chairs occupied, but several thou- 
sand people were standing, and thousands 
more could not gain admission. It is difficult 
to estimate accurately the real magnitude of 
such a crowd ; but I am inclined to think 
there were thirteen thousand people present. 
Every night through the first week the Hall 
was thronged in the same way, and there 
were vast crowds outside. 

On Sunday morning, January 24th, it 
was filled with people who obtained admis- 
sion by tickets, and who before they re- 
ceived their tickets declared that they 
were not in the habit of attending any place 
of worship. In the afternoon of the same 
day it was filled with women, and a second 
service was held in the Town Hall for the 
overflow. In the evening it was filled with 
men. There was a break on the Monday 
of the second week, when Mr. Moody had 
an engagement at Manchester, to meet 
those who professed to have received Christ 
during his visit to that city. Mr. Bright 
spoke in the Hall that night, and it was 
most inconveniently crowded ; but some of 
the police were of opinion that on several 
of the following evenings the crowd that 
filled the Hall for the religious services 
was denser than that which filled it for the 
political demonstration. Night after night, 
long before the hour of service, long 
rows of carriages stood in the street, 
filled with persons who hoped that when 
the crowd about the doors had thinned, 
they might be able to find standing room 
just inside, and thousands streamed away 
because they found they had come too late 
to have a chance of pressing in. 

In addition to the evening service, there 
was a prayer-meeting every morning at 
twelve o'clock, at which Mr. Moody gave 
an address of twenty or twenty-five min- 
utes' length, and Mr. Sankey sang. The 
meeting was held at first in the Town Hall, 
which was generally quite full ; on the last 
four days it was held in Bingley Hall, and 
the attendance varied from four to six 
thousand. At three o'clock, after the first 



day or two, Mr. Moody gave a " Bible lec- 
ture ; " he began in Carr's Lane Chapel, 
which was soon found to be too small. It 
was then transferred to Bingley Hall, and 
the attendance varied from five to seven 
thousand. 

How is all this to be accounted for ? 

" You advertised the Americans well," it 
has been said, " by holding special prayer- 
meetings every day for three weeks before 
they came— -prayer-meetings in which all 
the Evangelical Non-conformists and some 
of the Evangelical clergy united." Well, 
no doubt the prayer-meetings were a kind 
of " advertisement " of the • services, and 
assisted to attract large numbers on the 
first few days. 

It is said again : " The local newspapers 
helped you. One of them published a 
series of articles on Mr. Moody and Mr. 
Sankey before they came, describing the 
impression they had produced in Scotland 
and Ireland. The Morning News gene- 
rally gave several columns day after day to 
reports of the services ; the Daily Post, 
though prevented by pressure on its space 
from reporting the services at equal length, 
gave great prominence to them ; and even 
the local Conservative organ, the Daily 
Gazette, always had enough about ' Messrs. 
Moody and Sankey ' to attract attention." 
Granted : the Birmingham newspapers 
helped us greatly. 

It is also true that the local Committee 
advertised the services most efficiently. 
The walls of the town were covered with 
their placards, and these were constantly 
renewed. Further, it must be acknowl- 
edged , that when once it was known that 
Bingley Hall had been filled to hear the 
strangers, a certain measure of popular ex- 
citement and curiosity was created, which 
made it almost certain that the hall would 
be filled again. 

I have had some experience, however, 
of popular agitation. I think I know 
pretty well what is likely to be effected by 
newspaper articles and advertisements; 
and these do not seem to me to explain the 
interest which the services created from 
the first. They explain still less the 
deepening of the interest from day to day ; 
they do not explain at all the effects which 
I believe have been produced. 

Some people have said that it is easy to 
get crowds of women to ' hysteria! ." religi- 
ous services. But although the morning and 
afternoon meetings were largely attended 
by women, 1 believe that the majority of 



LONDON. 



27 



the evening congregation always consisted 
of men, and of men of all kinds— rough 
lads of seventeen or eighteen, workingmen, 
clerks, tradesmen, and manufacturers. I 
happen to have on my desk a list of per- 
sons that came into Carr's Lane Lecture- 
room one evening to tell me that they had 
" found Christ " during the fortnight that 
Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey were here ; 
out of twenty-one on the list, eleven are 
men. I have another list of persons who 
came to me the same evening who had 
been quickened to earnest religious anxiety, 
but were not yet at rest ; out of thirteen, 
eight are men. I believe that these lists 
imperfectly represent the proportion of 
men to women among those who were im- 
pressed by the services, for I generally find 
that men are slower to express religious 
decision than women. 

Nor were the services at all "hysteri- 
cal ; " the first sign of hysterical excitement 
was instantly repressed by Mr. Moody, and 
although I attended a very large number 
of the meetings, I saw nothing of the kind 
again. It was very curious, too, that al- 
though the crowds were so enormous, very 
few women fainted. I do not remember 
more than three or four cases. . 

The most plausible explanation that I 
have heard from an " outsider " was sug- 
gested to me by a Unitarian friend, who 
said that since all the Evangelical Non-con- 
formists and some Evangelical Church peo- 
ple united to make the meetings a success, 
it was inevitable that many thousands of 
people should come together. But it so 
happens that of all the towns in the king- 
dom, of which I know anything, Birming- 
ham is the least curious to listen to stran- 
gers, whatever their ■ reputation and on 
whatever subject they may have to speak. 
The Birmingham people are very loyal to 
their own leaders, and seem to care very 
little about men who come from a distance. 
The Evangelical Non-conformists are no 
exception to this rule. 

How, I ask again, is the great interest of 
the people in these services to be account- 
ed for? The truest, simplest, and most 
complete reply to the question which I can 
give is, that the power of God was mani- 
fested in an extraordinary degree in con- 
nection with them ; but there were con- 
current circumstances which deserve no- 
tice. 

(1) As I have said, I attribute very 
much to the attention and expectation ex- 
cited by the preliminary prayer-meetings ; 



I attribute still more to the articles in the 
local newspapers, describing the impressions 
which had been produced by Mr. Moody 
and Mr. Sankey in other parts of the king- 
dom. I also attribute very much to the 
reports of " revival work " which have ap- 
peared for many months in such news- 
papers as The Christian World and The 
Christian — reports which have convinced 
large numbers of religious persons that the 
services of our American visitors have 
originated a religious movement more re- 
markable than any we have seen in Eng- 
land since the middle of the last century. 
Thirty thousand copies* of The Christian, 
containing an account of the services at 
Manchester, were distributed in the con- 
gregations of the town a week or two be- 
fore Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey came to 
us. 

(2) I attribute very much to a fact 
which is perhaps not sufficiently recognized 
by any of us. There are, I believe, a very 
large number of persons — many of them 
regularly attending public worship, many 
of them never crossing the threshold of 
church or chapel — who have had deep re- 
ligious impressions, which have not issued 
in a clear decision to serve Christ, but 
which have left a dull aching of. heart for 
God. The sense of dissatisfaction with 
their condition never wholly leaves them ; 
it sometimes makes them very restless. 
But when they listen to the preaching of 
most of us, they feel as if we were moving 
in regions which are inaccessible to them. 
If they come to our places of worship, 
they come without any hope of receiving 
help. Many of them, having found that 
we do not help them, never come at all. 
When -such people heard that within a very 
few months thousands of men and women 
had declared that, while listening to Mr. 
Moody and Mr. Sankey, they had passed 
from religious indifference or despondency 
into the clear light of God, they began to 
think that for them too 'there might be 
hope. I think it probable that many of 
the " converts " will be found to have be- 
longed to this forgotten class. 

(3) There must be large numbers of 
persons in Birmingham who have relatives 
and friends in the towns that the Ameri- 
can Evangelists had visited before coming 
to us ; and I have no doubt that mothers, 
brothers, sisters, cousins, old school-fellows, 
and old shop-mates wrote urgent letters to 

* I think this was the number, but am not quite certain. 



28 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



them entreating them to attend the ser- 
vices. At one meeting for " inquirers " I 
met a young man who seemed quite care- 
less about religious thought and duty, and 
I asked him how it was that he remained 
to that meeting. He told me he had prom- 
ised his friends " to go to the Moody and 
.Sankey meetings ;" and he seemed to sup- 
pose that to remain to the inquirers' meet- 
ing was part of the process to which he 
was pledged to submit himself. 

(4) After the first day or two, the ser- 
vices were " advertised " in a very much 
more efficient manner than by newspapers 
or placards : every evening, at the " after- 
meeting," a considerable number of per- 
sons received Christ as their " Prince and 
Saviour," and, judging from those with 
whom I conversed, most of them went 
home with overflowing joy. I had seen 
occasional instances before of instant tran- 
sition from religious anxiety to the clear 
and triumphant consciousness of restora- 
tion to God ; but what struck me in the 
gallery of Bingley Hall was the fact that 
this instant transition took place with nearly 
every person with whom I talked. They 
had come up into the gallery anxious, rest- 
less, feeling after God in the darkness, and 
when, after a conversation of a quarter of 
an hour or twenty minutes, they went 
away, their faces were filled with light, and 
they left me not only at peace with God 
but filled with joy. I have seen the sun- 
rise from the top of Helvellyn and the top 
of the Righi, and there is something very 
glorious in it ; but to see the light of heav- 
en suddenly^ strike on man after man in 
the course of one evening is very much 
more thrilling. These people carried their 
new joy with them to their homes and 
their workshops. It could not be hid. On 
the Sunday after Mr. Moody and Mr. 
Sankey had left us, I invited those members 
of my own congregation to meet me who 
had come to Christ during the. services of 
the preceding fortnight. A few who were 
still out at sea longing to make their way 
to quiet water came with them. Nothing 
was easier than to tell the difference be- 
tween the two classes ; I think I could have 
separated them into two divisions without 
asking a question and with scarcely a mis- 
take. Those who were still " inquirers," 
if they did not look anxious and troubled, 
looked like other people ; the " converts " 
were bright with their new joy. It is as 
yet too early to obtain any general informa 
tion about the extent of the influence which 



I have attributed to the converts them- 
selves ; but among the names that I have 
on several lists of persons that I saw my- 
self, I find the names of two clerks who sat 
side by side at the same desk, three pairs 
of brothers and sisters, three husbands 
with their wives; and four brothers — rough, 
working men — all of whom have been 
awakened to religious thought by Mr. 
Moody's addresses.* 

(5) Nearly all the "living" and active 
members of the various Evangelical 
Churches hoped that the services would 
achieve great results ; and many Christian 
people whose religious life was depressed 
and sad, trusted that they might find their 
way to the light. 

(6) Direct efforts were made to induce 
those who had not been at any of the meet- 
ings to come to them. In one manufactory 
in which 600 people are employed, I be- 
lieve that there was an attempt to induce 
all who were not in the habit of attend- 
ing public worship to go to the special 
meeting that was held for that class of 
persons. Hand-bills were distributed from 
house to house in the poorer parts of 
the town. Very many persons of all 
ranks, who had become interested in the 
services, urgently pressed their friends to 
go with them to hear the American stran- 
gers. 

(7) The services themselves were at- 
tractive. 

Mr. Sankey's solos evidently touched 
very many hearts; and the effect pro- 
duced by the manner in which the vast 
audiences united in such songs as " Hold 
the fort, for I am coming," and u Safe in 
the arms of Jesus," and " The Great 
Physician now is near," was sometimes 
very thrilling. The " songs " have been 
sharply criticised. It is very easy to 
criticise them ; it might be more profit- 
able to consider why it is that both the 
music and the words are so popular and 
effective. About their popularity there 
can be no doubt. There were sometimes 
ten or twelve thousand people in Bingley 
Hall for more than an hour before the 
services began. With intervals of a few 
minutes they occupied themselves with the 
more popular hymns and melodies ; and 
the delight with which they sang them 
was obvious. Passing along the streets I 



* Some of these are not persons with whom I had conver- 
sation at the " after-meetings," but are persons who have 
given their names to me as wishing to enter Carr s Lane 
Church. 



LONDON. 



29 



hear men whistling " Safe in the arms 
of Jesus.". I have long held the convic- 
tion, and often expressed it, that the 
reformation in our Psalmody which has 
been going on for the last five-and-twenty 
years, though it was very necessary, and 
though in some particulars it has been 
very admirable, is, in some respects, un- 
satisfactory. 

The tunes which were sung by Non- 
conformist congregations thirty years ago 
were often vulgar, but they were real 
tunes, easily learnt, easily remembered: 
and they haunted people during the week. 
Most of them were destitute of artistic 
merit, but the people liked them, and they 
were the natural expression of their emo- 
tion. Many of the new tunes are not 
" tunes " at all. They are not vulgar, but 
they are uninteresting. They differ from 
their predecessors very much as the dull- 
ness of a " respectable " dinner-party dif- 
fers from the merriment of a picnic at 
which the people are just a little unrefined, 
but at which they have resolved to enjoy 
themselves. I do not like either, but on 
the whole I prefer the picnic. The men 
who have composed or adapted the new 
tunes are for the most part organists, who 
know very much more about how to get 
solemn effects out of their instrument than 
how to give the people something to sing. 
Mr. Sankey's melodies — whatever their 
demerits — are caught by thousands of peo- 
ple of all kinds, cultivated and uncultivat- 
ed, men, women, and children, and are 
sung "with a will." 

I agree with those who say that we ought, 
if possible, to ge^ really good music for 
God's service, but it must be on one con- 
dition : that we do not sacrifice " God's 
service " to the " good music." Our first 
business is to enable Christian congrega- 
tions to give free and happy expression to 
their joy and trust in God's love, and their 
reverence for God's majesty : the promotion 
of their musical taste is a matter of only sec- 
ondary importance. Moreover, my con- 
tention is that much of the new music 
differs from the old chiefly in one particu- 
lar : there is not more musical genius in it, 
but less life. Let a scientific musician 
write tunes which lay hold of the imagina- 
tion and heart of all kinds of men as pow- 
erfully as some of those which Mr. Sankey 
has brought together in his little book, and 
most of Mr. Sankey's melodies will soon 
be forgotten. 

The same principles are applicable to 



the hymns. Critics have said that they 
are " childish," that they have no " literary 
merit," that there is something ridiculous in 
hearing a congregation of grown people 
singing with enthusiasm, " I am so glad that 
Jesus loves me." Well, the fact that 
hymns which are simple even to childish- 
ness are sung by grown people with so 
much earnestness, that hymns with no 
" literary merit " kindle new fire in the 
hearts of men and women who know some- 
thing of Shakespeare, Milton, and Words- 
worth, is surely worth investigating. Is it 
the " childishness " which accounts for 
their power ? Is it the absence of " lit- 
erary merit?" I think not. Give the 
people a collection of hymns characterized 
by equal fervor, expressing with the same 
directness the elementary convictions and 
the deepest emotions of the Christian heart, 
and if they have also the literary merit 
which is absent from many, at least, of Mr. 
Sankey's songs, they will become equally 
popular, and their popularity will be more 
enduring. But our hymn-books are too 
stiff and cold. People want to sing, not 
what they think, but what they feel j and 
if they are asked to sing hymns in which 
there is no glow of feeling, and in which 
the thought is perfectly commonplace, they 
will not sing at all. " I am so glad that 
Jesus loves me " is a childish way of ex- 
pressing our joy in the love of Christ ; but 
if hymn - writers will not help us to ex- 
press it in a more masculine way, we must 
express it as best we can. How few hymns 
there are in our language which express 
thanksgiving for salvation in a popular and 
really lyrical form ! how few which express 
exultation in the large freedom which is 
the inheritance of those in Christ ! Again, 
it is of no use asking people to sing to God 
in a language remote from the language of 
their common life : hence one of the diffi- 
culties of writing a really good hymn. 
There is similar difficulty in writing good 
secular songs ; we have an infinite number 
of songs which are musical in their lan- 
guage, and graceful in their thought, but 
which have never found their way to the 
heart of the nation ; the number of songs 
which have really high literary merit and 
are also popular is perhaps smaller than 
the number of successful hymns. Mr. Bin- 
ney's " Eternal Light " has the simplicity, 
fervor, and dignity which constitute a per- 
fect hymn ; but I am not sure whether its 
dignity does not impose a kind of strain 
upon very many minds, which though very 



3° 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



good for them occasionally, interferes with 
their delight in singing it. There are, 
however, comparatively few hymns which 
combine the simplicity necessary both for 
the cultivated and uncultivated in acts of 
happy thanksgiving, praise, and worship, 
with elevation of thought and manner. 

But it was not the singing only which 
made the services interesting: there was 
great animation and variety in them. In 
the evening they began with a hymn which 
the people sang together ; but what would 
be the " order " of the service no one knew, 
and I suspect Mr. Moody did not know 
beforehand. Every man who is accus- 
tomed to conduct public meetings for any 
purpose can easily tell whether the people 
are interested : Mr. Moody has this instinct- 
ive perception in a remarkable degree. 

After the first hymn somebody generally 
offered a short prayer ; if it was clear that 
the heart of the audience went with the 
prayer, he would then read a chapter and 
make a few remarks upon it as he read ; if 
not, he would ask Mr. Sankey to sing a solo, 
or a solo with a chorus in which the people 
joined, or else one of the most popular 
hymns. Then he would read the chapter, 
and perhaps have another hymn or offer a 
short prayer himself. Then would come 
another hymn, and then the sermon. Some- 
times the sermon was followed by a solo 
from Mr. Sankey, sometimes by a hymn in 
which all united, sometimes by a prayer. 
Everything was determined by what was 
felt to be the actual mood of the moment. 
Generally the whole service was over in a 
little more than an hour and a quarter. 
Then came the " after meeting," of which 
I will say something presently. 

Of Mr. Moody's own power I find it dif- 
ficult to speak. It is so real, and yet so 
unlike the power of ordinary preachers, that 
I hardly know how to analyze it. Its reality 
is indisputable. Any man who can interest 
and impress an audience varying from three 
thousand to six thousand people for half an 
hour in the morning, and for three-quarters 
of an hour in the afternoon, and who can in- 
terest a third audience of thirteen or fifteen 
thousand people for three-quarters of an 
hour again in the evening, must have power 
of some kind. Of course, some people 
listened without caring much for what he 
said ; but though I generally sat in a po- 
sition which enabled me to see the kind of 
impression he produced, I rarely saw many 
faces which did not indicate the most ac- 
tive and earnest interest. The people were 



of all sorts, old and young, rich and poor, 
keen tradesmen, manufacturers, and mer- 
chants, and young ladies who had just left 
school, rough boys who knew more about 
dogs and pigeons than about books, and 
cultivated women. For a time I could not 
understand it — I am not sure that I under- 
stand it now. At the first meeting, Mr. 
Moody's address was simple, direct, kindly, 
and hopeful ; it had a touch of humor and 
a touch of pathos ; it was lit up with a story 
or two that filled most eyes with tears ; but 
there seemed nothing in it very remarkable. 
Yet it told. A prayer-meeting with an ad- 
dress, at eight o'clock on a damp, cold Jan- 
uary morning, was hardly the kind of thing 
— let me say it frankly — that I should gen- 
erally regard as attractive ; but I enjoyed 
it heartily ; it seemed one of the happiest 
meetings I had ever attended; there was 
warmth and there was sunlight in it. At 
the evening meeting the same day, at Bing- 
ley Hall, I was still unable to make it out 
how it was that he had done so much in 
other parts of the kingdom. I listened with 
interest ; everybody listened with interest ; 
and I was conscious again of a certain 
warmth and brightness which made the 
service very pleasant, but I could not see 
that there was much to impress those that 
were careless about religious duty. The 
next morning at the prayer-meeting the 
address was more incisive and striking, and 
at the evening service I began to see that 
the stranger had a faculty for making the 
elementary truths of the Gospel intensely 
clear and vivid. But it still seemed most 
remarkable that he should have done so 
much, and on Tuesday I told Mr. Moody 
that the work was most plainly of God, for I 
could see no real relation between him and 
what he had done. He laughed .cheerily, 
and said he should be very sorry if it were 
otherwise. I began to wonder whether 
what I had supposed to be a law of the 
Divine kingdom was perfectly uniform. I 
thought that there were scores of us who 
could preach as effectively as Mr. Moody, 
and who might therefore, with God's good 
help, be equally successful. 

In the course of a day or two my mistake 
was corrected ; but to the last there were 
sensible people who listened to him with a 
kind of interest and delight with which they 
never listen to very "distinguished" and 
eloquent preachers, and who yet thought 
that though Mr. Moody was " very simple 
and earnest," he had no particular power 
as a speaker. I do not intend to suggest 



LONDON. 



3i 



any comparison between Mr. Moody and 
our great English orator, but I have met 
people who have talked in the same way 
about Mr. Bright, and who seem to think 
that to speak like Mr. Bright was possible to 
nearly everybody. 

One of the elements of Mr. Moody's 
power consists in his perfect naturalness. 
He has something to say, and he says it — 
says it as simply and directly to thirteen 
thousand people as to thirteen. » He has 
nothing of the impudence into which some 
speakers are betrayed when they try to be 
easy and unconventional ; but he talks in 
a perfectly unconstrained and straightfor- 
ward way, just as he would talk to half-a- 
dozen old friends at his fireside. The ef- 
fect of this is very intelligible. You no 
more think of criticising him than you 
think of criticising a man that you meet in 
the street, and who tells you the shortest 
way to a railway station. I can criticise 
most preachers and speakers; I criticised 
Dr. Guthrie, though I was either laughing 
or crying the greater part of the time that 
I was listening to him ; but somehow I did 
not think of criticising Mr. Moody until I 
had got home. Generally there seemed 
nothing to criticise ; once or twice in the 
simplest and most inartistic manner, he said 
things which at the moment he said them 
I felt were of the kind to give a popular 
speaker a great triumph, but his whole 
manner threw me out of the critical atti- 
tude. Some men force you to be critical. 
It is impossible to take a single coin from 
them without ringing it on the table and 
looking to see whether it is properly 
" milled." From^ first to last, they provoke 
"watchful jealousy." It is clear that they 
are taking a great deal of trouble with their 
sentences ; it is disrespectful not to examine 
their work. It is clear, too, that they are 
giving you their b^st thoughts, their best 
arguments, and their best illustrations, and 
they show them to you just as a collector 
of gems shows you his last triumphant 
acquisition. It is impossible — it is almost 
insulting — not to criticise. When a speech 
or sermon is plainly a work of art, criticism 
is inevitable. It is not necessary for any- 
one to paint pictures, to sing songs, or to 
deliver artistic addresses; but if a man 
insists on being an artist, and lets you know 
it, he forces upon you a critical examination 
©f his performance. 

Mr. Moody — so it seems to me — has an 
"art "of a very effective kind; but he is 
infinitely more than an artist, and therefore 



most people listen without criticising. This 
is an immense element of power. If our 
congregations came to hear us preach, in- 
stead of coming to hear how we preach, 
the effect of our sermons would be immeas- 
urably great. Now and then Mr. Moody 
quoted a text in a very illegitimate sense ; 
Now and then he advanced an argument 
which would not hold water; now and 
then he laid down principles which seemed 
untenable ; and there was a momentary 
protest on the part of the critical faculty ; 
but the protest was only momentarily. I 
was not thrown out of sympathy with him. 
It is objected that he is too " familiar " 
with sacred things. Generally — not always 
— the objection comes from persons who 
are extremely unfamiliar with them. The 
fault that is charged against him — if it be a 
fault — is perhaps not too common in these 
days. There are not too many people who 
live, and move, and have their being in the 
fair provinces of Christian truth, and Chris- 
tian hope, and Christian joy. Mr. Moody 
is, no doubt, very " familiar " with things 
about which he talks. He is like a man 
who keeps Sunday every day in the week; 
his mind does not put on Sunday clothes 
when he begins to speak about religion. 
Religious truth is the subject of his con- 
stant thought ; he does not therefore as- 
sume the " Bible tone " when he begins to 
pray or preach. In one of Mr. Ruskin's 
books there is a very remarkable passage 
on ecclesiastical architecture, which has oc- 
curred to me very often while thinking of 
Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey. Mr. Ruskin 
says that the great builders of the Middle 
Ages never thought of building a church in 
a different style from that in which they 
built a house. There was no " ecclesiasti- 
cal " style of architecture. There were 
houses in every street with doors and win- 
dows and niches in the walls for saints, 
just like the doors and windows and niches 
of the cathedral. The cathedral was larger, 
the materials used in it were richer, the 
work was very much more elaborate ; but 
when a man went to worship God he did 
not feel that he was in a building different 
in style from the common buildings about 
him. Mr. Ruskin does not discuss the 
question whether for religious reasons it is 
desirable to have an " ecclesiastical " style 
of architecture, but he insists that those 
who erected the great ecclesiastical build- 
ings of the Middle Ages did not intend to 
produce the kind of feeling which these 
buildings produce upon ourselves. We 



32 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



feel when we are in Lincoln or Notre Dame, 
that we are in a building which is so dis- 
tinctively religious that it would be almost 
profane to apply the style to common uses. 
This is because our houses are not built in 
the same style as the churches ; but when 
those great churches were erected they were 
illustrations of the ordinary house archi- 
tecture carried to perfection. This is Mr. 
Ruskin's theory ; and he maintains that we 
can never have good church architecture 
until our house architecture is sufficiently 
noble to be used for church purposes. 

Now the architecture — if I may so speak 
— of Mr. Moody's discourses is not ecclesi- 
astical. The windows, and the doors, and 
the furniture, and the decorations are of 
the kind with which we are familiar in our 
every-day life. He does not tell stories 
because they .are amusing ; but if an amus- 
ing story helps him to make a truth clearer, 
or to expose a common mistake, he does 
not refuse to tell it merely because it is 
amusing. The common things of common 
life are about him all the time he is speak- 
ing. He uses the words of the home and 
the street : the plainer they are the better 
he likes them. The gowns and bands 
which some of our preachers wear are the 
symbols of the special costume in which 
they think it proper to array religious truth. 
Mr. Moody does without gown or bands, 
and speaks to men as he would speak to 
them at a meeting of the " United King- 
dom Alliance," or at a political meeting 
during a contested election. He has given 
himself to God, all that he has, all that he 
is, and he uses every faculty and resource 
of his nature to prevail upon men to hate 
sin and to trust and love Christ. To him 
nothing is common or unclean. He has 
humor, and he uses it ; he has passion, and 
he uses it ; he can tell racy anecdotes, and 
he tells them ; he can make people cry as 
well as laugh, and he does it. 

Some people say that he is " irreverent." 
If he is, I must have been singularly fortu- 
nate, for I have never heard him say any- 
thing which justifies the charge. But what 
people seem to mean is that he does not 
regard with religious respect everyone that 
is mentioned in the Bible. Why should 
he ? When he said that Bartimaeus, after 
getting his sight, was eager to go home and 
to " see what kind of a looking woman he 
had for a wife, for you know that as yet he 
had never seen Mrs. Bartimaeus," some 
people who saw the report in the news- 
papers thought this was a proof of the ir- 



reverence of which he is said to be guilty. 
But I do not know that there is any reason 
for speaking reverently either of Bartimaeus 
or his wife. As a matter of taste, most of 
us would prefer to describe the woman as 
" the wife " of the blind man; but why the 
"Mrs." should be thought irreverent it is 
difficult to understand. Reverence is due 
to God alone, and to Him in whom God is 
manifest in the flesh ; of God, of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, there was never a word which 
was not inspired by fervent love, perfect 
trust, and devout worship. Of great saints, 
good men will speak with affection and re- 
spect ; and it was thus that Mr. Moody 
spoke of them. 

There was something in his way of telling 
Scripture narratives from which preachers 
may learn very much. The Oriental 
drapery was stripped off, and he told the 
stories as though they had happened in 
Chicago just before he had left home, or 
in Birmingham an hour or two before the 
service began. At times this gave the 
stories a certain air of grotesqueness, but it 
made the moral element in them intensely 
real. We are in the habit of making a 
double demand on our hearers ; we ask 
them, first, to reproduce, by a strong effort 
of imagination, the Oriental circumstances 
of the narratives, and we then ask them to 
apprehend the human passions and follies 
and virtues which the narratives illustrate. 
I believe that they get so interested in the 
mere drapery that the substantial facts are 
often missed ; or else the enduring human 
element looks so strange in its unfamiliar 
costume that its power is lost. I have 
heard men say that of late years the scenery 
and the dresses at the great theatres are 
wonderfully improved, but that the acting 
is very inferior to what it once was. Mr. 
Moody cares nothing for the scenery and 
the dresses. If he were a " manager " he 
might bring Julius Caesar on to the stage in 
the uniform of an American general, and 
Hamlet might put on his " Ulster " when 
he was going out to meet the ghost, but 
he would insist on making the plot and 
passion of the play intensely and vividly 
real.* 

Of the aspect of the truth on which he 
dwells it is not necessary to say much. 
His great topic is the infinite love and 
power of Christ. That Christ wants to save 

* To prevent misunderstanding it may be well to say I do 
not intend to suggest that all preachers ought to strip off 
the "Oriental drapery" from the Bible stories. Can we 
not keep the proper "drapery," and yet make the stories 
real ? 



LONDON. 



■K 



men, and can do it, is the substance of 
nearly all his discourses. I asked him, 
after one of the morning services, whether 
he never used the element of terror in his 
preaching ? He said that he did sometimes, 
but that " a man's heart ought to be very 
tender " when speaking about the doom of 
the impenitent ; that the manner in which 
some preachers threatened unbelievers with 
the wrath to come, as though they had a 
kind of satisfaction in thinking of the suf- 
ferings of the lost, was to him very shock- 
ing. He added that in the course of his 
visit to a town he generally preached one 
sermon on hell and one on heaven. That 
night he preached on the text, " Son, re- 
member!" I greatly regret that I hap- 
pened to be absent; I should like to have 
heard how he dealt with this difficult sub- 
ject. As the readers of the Congregational- 
ist know, I believe that in modern preach- 
ing there is too little said about the awful 
words of our Lord concerning the destiny 
of those who resist His authority and reject 
His salvation. The unwillingness of most 
of us to speak of this terrible subject ought 
to suggest very earnest self-examination. 
Christ's love for men, which was infinitely 
more tender than ours, did not prevent 
Him from speaking of " the worm that 
dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched," 
and it is surely presumptuous of us to as- 
sume that we are prevented from speaking 
of future punishment by the depth of our 
sympathy with the Divine mercy. 

The possibility of " instantaneous con- 
version " was one of the points on which he 
insisted incessantly. I think I should pre- 
fer to speak of the certainty of Christ's im- 
mediate response to a frank trust in His 
love, and a frank submission to His author- 
ity. These, however, are only two ways 
of presenting the same truth ; and the vigor 
and earnestness with which he charged his 
hearers to obtain at once the pardon of sin 
and power to break away from a sinful life, 
were extremely effective. 

Almost invariably the preaching was fol- 
lowed by an "after meeting." Cards of 
admission to the meetings for inquirers had 
been distributed among the ministers who 
co-operated with the movement, to be given 
by them to ladies and gentlemen to whom 
they could entrust the duty of conversing 
with persons agitated by religious anxiety 
and needing sympathy and advice. The 
intention of this arrangement was to pre- 
vent " inquirers " from being left in the 
hands of unwise and incompetent people. 



How many of these " cards " were dis- 
tributed I do not know ; in my own church 
I gave away between a dozen and a score, 
and it was pleasant to me to see many of 
my friends at their work night after night. 
The arrangement broke down. The num- 
ber of persons who remained for the " after 
meeting " was so large that a general appeal 
had to be made again and again to Chris- 
tian people in the congregation to give their 
help. Some responded who had more 
enthusiasm than good sense. But, not- 
withstanding this, the results of the " after 
meeting " were extraordinary. I have 
already spoken of the number of persons 
with whom I conversed myself, to whom, 
while I was conversing with them, the light 
came which springs from the discovery of 
God's love and power, and from the accept- 
ance of His will as the law of life. Testi- 
mony after testimony has reached me from 
" converts " to whom the same light came 
while conversing with others. " I went up 
into the gallery," said one young man to 
me, a day or two ago, " and Mr. Sankey 
walked up and down with me, and talked to 
me as though he had been my own father ; 
and I found Christ." 

The preaching without the " after meet- 
ing " would not have accomplished one- 
fifth of the results. It was in the quiet, 
unexciting talk with individuals • that the 
impressions produced by Mr. Moody's ad- 
dresses issued in a happy trust in Christ, 
and a clear decision to live a Christian life. 
The galleries were a beautiful sight. Mr. 
Moody's quaint directions were almost uni- 
versally followed : " Let the young men 
talk to the young men, the maidens to the 
maidens, the elder women to the elder wom- 
en, and the elder men to the elder men " 
Cultivated young ladies were sitting or 
standing with girls of their own age, some- 
times with two or three together, whose 
eager faces indicated the earnestness of 
their desire to understand how they were 
to lay hold of the great blessing which 
they seemed to be touching but could not 
grasp. Young men were talking to lads — 
some of their own social position, others 
with black hands and rough clothes, which 
were suggestive of gun-making and rolling 
mills and brass foundries. Ladies of re- 
finement were trying to make the truth clear 
to women whose worn faces and poor dress 
told of the hardships of their daily life. 
Men of business, local politicians, were at 
the same work with men of forty and fifty 
years of age. And there was the brightness 



34 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



of hope and faith in the tone and manner 
and bearing of nearly all of them. Chris- 
tian people who want to know the real na- 
ture of the work of our American brethren, 
and to catch its spirit, should take care to 
spend a few hours at the "after meeting." 
If they go twice, they will find it hard to 
keep away. 

Separate arrangements were made for 
those of the young men who preferred an 
after meeting of their own. A Presbyterian 
church in the neighborhood of the Hail was 
thrown open for them, and the attendance 
was generally very large. 

Mr. Moody does not approve of the pub- 
lication in newspapers of the number of 
persons who have declared that they have 
been led to begin a Christian life as the 
result of these services, and I therefore do 
not feel at liberty to publish in these pages 
the information on this point which is in 
my possession. A week after he had left 
us he returned to hold a farewell meeting 
for " converts " and " inquirers." Ministers 
sat at the office of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association to receive applications for 
tickets from both these classes of persons. 
In every case I believe that there was per- 
sonal conversation with the applicants. 
Their names and addresses were registered, 
and the congregations with which they were 
already connected, or with which they in- 
tended to connect themselves. One hun- 
dred and twenty names have been sent to 
me of persons who are already attendants at 
Carr's Lane, or who mean to attend there. 
These include eighty-five professed " con- 
verts," and thirty-five persons who have 
been awakened to religious earnestness, but 
who cannot say that they have rest of heart 
in Christ. The large majority of them, so 
far as I have been able at present to analyze 
the list, are working people, and most of 
them young men and women. In some 
cases the young men told me that they had 
been in the habit of swearing and using bad 
language up to the night when the truth 
came to them. " And never since then ? " 
I have asked. They smiled, as though I 
had asked a very unnecessary question, 
and answered, " Never, sir." And when I 
talked to them about their conduct at home 
to their parents, and about their temper, it 
still seemed that I was going over ground 
that they had already gone over for them- 
selves : " Things don't put me about now, 
sir, as they used," was the answer of a 
rough boy of seventeen or eighteen. I 
heard through a friend, that a manufacturer, 



who had a violent temper, and who had 
been accustomed to swear a great deal at 
his men, was suddenly so much changed 
that the men noticed it, and, of course, in- 
ferred that he had been to " Moody; " for 
a whole week they tried, "for the fun of 
it," to get him to swear at them again, but 
failed. I heard of another case that was 
very sad. A poor girl came to one of the 
meetings and was deeply impressed ; when 
she got home, her father, who was half 
drunk, insisted on knowing where she had 
been, and when she told him, he was in a 
great rage and violently abused her. She 
bore this quietly, and went to bed. The 
neighbors, however, got to know it, and the 
next morning, as she went to work, they 
hooted at her and chafed her in the street. 
When she reached the shop where she is 
employed, her shopmates began to tease 
her and annoy her ; she bore it a long time, 
but at last gave way and turned upon them 
in a burst of passion, and poured out on 
them a torrent of curses. The deepest re- 
morse came upon the poor girl, and she 
thought that it was impossible for her to 
be recovered from her fall. I have no 
doubt that the Christian lady who is caring 
for her told her of one who, though he 
denied Christ with oaths and curses, was 
forgiven, and restored to all the honors 
and joys of his Apostleship. 

The effect of this work has extended 
beyond those who were present at the ser- 
vices ; and very much of the good that 
has been effected is never likely to be 
known. Since I began to write this- paper, 
a son of one of the members of my own 
Church, a lad of seventeen, came to me 
and said he wished to enter the Church. 
I talked to him for a few minutes, and 
took for granted that Mr. Moody's services 
had led him to religious decision. He had 
all the brightness and joyousness which I 
have come to regard as characteristic of 
the typical " Moody convert." I asked 
him which of the services had had the 
greatest effect on him, and he said that his 
business engagements had prevented him 
from going to any of them. " How was 
it, then," I asked, " that you came to trust 
in Christ ?" " Well, sir," he said, " I could 
not go to the meetings, but I heard a great 
deal of what these two gentlemen were 
doing, and I came to the conclusion that 
they could not be doing it themselves, but 
that God must be doing it ; and then I 
came to see that I could look to God my- 
self and get all the good." 



LONDON. 



35 



Some of the most remarkable results of 
the visit of our American friends are to 
be found, perhaps, among those who have 
been long members of Christian Churches. 
1 hardly know how to describe the change 
which has passed over them. It is like 
-the change which comes upon a landscape 
when clouds which have been hanging over 
it for hours suddenly vanish, and the sun- 
light seems to fill both heaven and earth- 
There is a joyousness, and an elasticity of 
spirit, and a hopefulness, which have com- 
pletely transformed them; and the trans- 
formation shows itself in the unostenta- 
tious eagerness with which they are taking 
up Christian work. 

If I thought it worth while, I could 
speak of some things in this work which 
are not to my taste, and some things which 
my judgment disapproves. But before 
Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey came to Bir- 
mingham, I had arrived at the conclusion 
that what was said of the early evangelists 
at Antioch was the truest account of the 
work of these American evangelists in 
Scotland and Ireland, " The hand of the 
Lord was with them : and a great number 
believed and turned unto the Lord." This 
conviction has been deepened and con- 
firmed by all that I have seen of them. 
When Whitfield and Wesley were renewing 
the religious life of England, there were 
learned, orthodox, and devout ministers 
who were distressed by " The Decay of 
the Dissenting Interest," and the low state 
of religion throughout the country ; there 
were ministers who had written pamphlets 
on these subjects in the hope of reawaken- 
ing in the Christian Churches of that time 
the faith and ze^al of earlier and better 
days, but who regarded Whitfield and 
Wesley with a distrust like that with which 
Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey are now re- 
garded by some excellent people. The 
very objections which are urged against 
Mr. Moody and Mr. Sankey were urged 
against the leaders of the great Evangelical 
revival which saved England from sinking 



into atheism. The result was inevitable; 
these ministers and their churches missed 
the blessing for which they had been long- 
ing and praying. When " the power of 
God " is with men who preach what we 
acknowledge to be the great truths of the 
Gospel, it is surely our clear duty to co- 
operate with them heartily and frankly. If 
in their methods, and if in their very con- 
ception of Christian truth and the Christian 
life, there are some things which we cannot 
accept, these may surely be borne with 
and even forgotten. Those men especially 
who are in the habit of insisting on 
" breadth " of sympathy with all in whom 
there is genuine Christian earnestness, and 
who are always saying that rigid accuracy 
in doctrinal definitions is of inferior impor- 
tance to a living faith in Christ, ought to 
be able to rise above the kind of objections 
which seem likely to alienate some of them 
from this work. 

It is possible that in some places our 
American visitors may not achieve the 
kind of success which has hitherto fol- 
lowed them. Before they came to Birming- 
ham I felt very doubtful whether they 
#buld accomplish here what they had ac- 
complished in Dublin and Belfast. I be- 
lieve they will accomplish very little in any 
place where they are not sustained by the 
hearty sympathy of Christian people, and 
where Christian Churches do not earnestly 
entreat God to manifest in connection with 
their work the transcendent greatness of 
His power and love. There were people 
among whom our Lord Himself " could do 
no mighty works, because of their unbe- 
lief." 



It has been thought that some of Mr. 
Moody's addresses would be more accept- 
able to the religious public than a con- 
tinued and detailed account of the daily 
work ; a number of these, delivered in 
London during the month of March, are 
included in this volume. 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 



BY D. L. MOODY. 



GOD'S HUMAN INSTRUMENTS, 
i Cor. i : 17 to end of chapter. 

I want for a few minutes to call your 
attention to a truth that you will find in 
these verses that I have read. There are 
a great many Christians in London that 
are praying for God to revive His work. 
I have received letters from a great many, 
and the thing that I have to fear most in 
coming to London is that many might be 
leaning upon man or upon the arm of flesh, 
or upon the great meetings, and get their 
eyes off from the Lord. Now if there is 
going to be a work in London, God must 
do the work. It is not any new Gospel 
that London wants ; it is not any new 
power. It is the same old power, the 
power of the Holy Ghost, and it is the 
same old story — nothing new. The world 
is running here and there after something 
new, and they come and hear the old, old 
story, and they say, " Well, it is not any- 
thing new after all." I want you to un- 
derstand, if you have come here to-night 
expecting to hear something new, you will 
be disappointed. We have not come with 
any new Gospel, but are just going to 
preach the same old truths that these min- 
isters before me have been preaching. And 
not only that, but we are come in weak- 
ness. There are hundreds of men in Lon- 
don that can preach a good deal better 
than we can, and if you are leaning upon 
man you will be disappointed ; but if we 
lean upon God, and all our expectations 
are from Him, we will not be disappointed. 
" Cursed is the man that maketh the arm 
of flesh his trust." What we want is to 
cease from man, and get done with men, 
and look right straight away from man up 
to God. The world is seeking after wis- 
dom, but they don't know God by wisdom- 
It is not the wisdom of the world. God's 
thoughts are not our thoughts, and God's 
(36) 



ways are not our ways.- Let us keep that 
constantly in mind. If God is going to 
work in London, He is going to work in 
His own way, and we must not mark out 
channels for the Holy Ghost to work in 
when He comes. He will work in His 
own way when He comes ; and He will 
use the instruments that He pleases. God 
is a sovereign. He may take up this man ; 
He may take up that man ; He may take 
up that boy, and use him. God will choose 
His instruments, and God will work in His 
own way, and what we want is to get into 
our places as Gideon's army did, and let 
God work. Yon is a mountain, and God 
wants to thrash that mountain, and there 
lies a great bar of iron — ten thousand men 
could not lift it — and right by its side a 
little weak worm. The Almighty passes 
by that bar of iron, and takes up the little 
worm to thrash the mountain. That is 
what God has been trying to teach us six 
thousand years. He uses base things, con- 
temptible things in the sight of the world. 
In this chapter Paul sums up the five 
things that God does use — foolish things, 
weak things, base things, despised things, 
and the things which are not. What for? 
"That no flesh should glory in His sight." 

THE CALL OF NOAH AND OF MOSES. 

When God was going to destroy the 
world, and wanted an ark built, He did not 
tell a nation to do it ; He did not tell a 
great city to go and build it ; He did not 
call forth hundreds of men, but one man, 
who was contemptible in the sight of the 
world. The world laughed at Noah and at 
his ark. They mocked him and made light 
of him. But that is God's way, not man's 
way. What is highly esteemed of man is 
abomination to God, and what is highly 
esteemed of God is abomination to man. 
God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and 
God's ways are not our ways. When God 
wanted to bring three millions of people 
out of Egypt, out of bondage, how did He 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



37 



do it ? (An interruption here took place, 
in consequence of people attempting to 
enter at one of the side doors, and Mr. 
Moody called upon the people to rise and 
sing a hymn until the confusion ended). 
He then went on to say : We were talking 
about the weak things that God uses, and 
I was just going to say when God wanted 
to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt 
His way of delivering them was different 
from ours. We would have sent down 
there a mighty army. We would have 
called for an army with chariots and with 
weapons, or, if we were going to send a 
man down to plead with Pharoah, we 
should not have sent down that man who 
had been forty years on the backside of the 
desert ; a man who really was not known. 
He had been so long out of Egypt that his 
name had been forgotten and his influence 
at the court was gone, if he ever had any ; 
and he says himself that he was slow of 
speech, not an eloquent man. I suppose 
he was what we call a stuttering man — the 
last man we would have thought of send- 
ing down there. We would have picked 
up some great orator, some eloquent man, 
to lay it all before the king ; but the Lord's 
ways are not our ways. 

god's blank cheque. 

And when Moses said, " If they ask me 
who sent me, what shall I tell them ?" 
God said, "Say I Am sent me;" and, as 
some one has said, that was a blank cheque, 
and God told him to fill it out ; and when 
they were in the desert and wanted water 
He filled out the cheque and drew water 
from the rock. When he wanted bread He 
filled out the cheque, and God gave him 
bread from heaven. Yes ; / Am sent him, 
and God delivered three millions of bond- 
men. Pharoah looked down upon Him with 
scorn and contempt. " Who is God, that I 
should obey Him ?" But he soon found 
out what the God of Moses was, and what 
we want is to be filled with the Spirit of 
God, and they will find out who our God 
is. It is of very little account who we' are 
or what we are. All we want is, to be ves- 
sels fitted for the Master's use, and just 
willing to be worked in God's way, and to 
be fools for Christ's sake. That is what we 
want. There is not a man in the world of 
God whose name shines out upon the page 
of Divine history who was eminent in 
God's service, but who was considered the 
greatest fool in his day. I have not any 
doubt but that Enoch was considered the 



greatest fool in his day in the sight of the 
world. They looked upon him with scorn 
and contempt, but u he walked with God," 
and God thought so much of him that He 
said, "Come up higher;" and he is up 
there walking with God now. God liked 
his company. Noah was the laughing- 
stock of his dny. Men made sport of him. 
He was the greatest fool, as the world 
would call it. He was willing to be a fool 
for God's sake, and God used him and 
blessed him ; and if you and I are to be 
used by God we must be willing to be fools 
in the sight of the world. 

Look at Joshua going round the walls of 
Jericho — a most absurd sight in the eyes 
of the world. How the London press 
would come down upon a scene like that — 
the idea of seven priests going round those 
walls blowing rams' horns. Fancy the 
Archbishop of Canterbury and some of 
your great potentates going right round 
London blowing rams' horns. Everybody 
would be disgusted, and say they must 
have gold trumpets at least, and not rams' 
horns. But that is not God's way. They 
went round those walls and compassed 
that city by faith, and by the grace of God 
they took it. 

THE WORK OF SAMSON. 

It was very foolish in the sight of the 
world, but God's ways are not our ways, 
and God's thoughts are not our thoughts, 
and what the Christians of London must 
learn — and we must learn it very quick if 
God is going to commence the work here 
— is that God is going to work in His own 
way; and it will be a very foolish way in 
the sight of the world. Look at that man 
Samson. Why, when the spirit was on 
him, how he did work. With the jawbone 
of an ass he slew a thousand men. We 
are not willing to work with the jawbone 
of an ass : we want some polished weapons ; 
we want some weapons that the world 
won't have anything to say against; but 
Samson came down from the rock — he had 
been on the rock — and he took up the 
jawbone of an ass that he came across, 
and he went out and slew them right and 
left. And what we want is for every one 
of us to grab up the first jawbone of an ass 
that we come across, and not to wait to do 
some great thing, but to do anything that 
the Lord will permit us to do. Let the 
world mock and laugh on ; when we are 
willing to be fools for Christ's sake, then 
God can use us. How absurd Gideon 



3§ 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



must have looked in his day, with his three 
hundred men. There were thirty thou 
sand — too many ; God could not use them. 
There were ten thousand — too many ; God 
could not use them ; and He got them 
down to three hundred, and they had 
empty pitchers. What queer weapons, 
were they not ? It was God's way, how- 
ever, and every man stood in his place, and 
God stood beside them> and the result was 
that they routed the whole of the army. 
To be sure London is a great city, but we 
are enough here to rout London, if God is 
on our side. Any man with God on his 
side, though a fool, must succeed. God 
sent Moses, and he did not fail. God sent 
Elijah, and he did not fail. Look how ab- 
surd it was. Elijah out there, fed by 
ravens — contemptible, unclean birds feed- 
ing Elijah ; and then when God sent him 
somewhere else it was not to a palace, to a 
table laden with good things, but to a 
widow just ready to die, who had scarcely 
enough for a meal for herself and her boy 
beside. But that is God's way, though 
very absurd in the sight of the world. So 
it is all through Scripture, from beginning 
to end, and God is unchangeable. It is 
said we are living in an enlightened age ; 
we may be, but to God it is the same, and 
He takes the contemptible things and the 
despised things of the world and uses 
them. 

WHO IS JOHN BUNYAN ? 

When He wanted a book written to do 
some great good to the world, He did not 
call forth a philosopher, but some Bedford 
tinker (the devil got his match when he 
got hold of John Bunyan), and he took 
up his pen and wrote a book for the 
blessing of nations. The world looked 
down upon him with scorn. "Who is 
John Bunyan?" How they turned up 
their lips with scorn and contempt in his 
day ; but he lives to-day. Many a man 
that stood high in society in Bunyan's 
days is forgotten now. We do not know 
who they were ; but John Bunyan now 
lives, and will live so long as the world 
lasts. That despised tinker ! I hope 
there are some Bedford tinkers here to- 
night that the Lord will bless, and send 
out to bless the world. God can take up 
the learned and the unlearned, and there 
is not a man here whom God cannot use 
if he is willing to be used. Some one has 
said there was not a man in all Saul's 
army but knew that God could use him to 



meet Goliath ; but there was only one that 
believed that God would use him, and 
God used that one. And what we want 
is not to believe that God can use us, 
but that God will use us. Out went that 
young stripling, and he met the giant. 
Forty days he' had come out and point- 
ed his finger at and defied all Israel. 
Forty days was Saul trembling from head 
to foot, and he was a head and shoulders 
taller than any one else in his army ; but 
he was not the man God had chosen to 
meet the giant. It was the little strip- 
ling, the youngest son of Jesse, the small- 
est and the weakest of the sons of Jesse ; 
and God used him, and went with him, 
and God delivered the giant into his hands. 

GREAT PREACHERS IN LONDON. 

And God will use the weak ones here in 
London if they will only let Him. You 
have got great preachers here — I do not 
believe London ever knew a day when it 
had so many great and good preachers as 
at the present time. It is not that ; it is 
not human power that London wants ; it 
is Divine power; it is not the eloquence 
of man ; it is the eloquence of heaven, the 
power of the Holy Ghost "breaking men's 
hearts. That is what London wants. 
And the moment that you and I get ready 
to receive the baptism that comes from on 
high — that moment the power will come. 
" Why ! " says Jonathan, " there is no re- 
straint in the Lord ; He can save by few 
as well as by many." Well, we are few, 
and what we want is just to let God work. 
I think John Wesley said, if he had one 
hundred men that loved no one but God, 
and feared nothing but sin, he would set 
up the kingdom of God on earth, and 
shake the gates of hell in twelve months. 
And I believe he would have done it. 
One hundred such men never lived at one 
time. Talk about Alexander making the 
world tremble with his army — talk about 
Napoleon making the world tremble with 
his army — why! the little tentmaker of 
Tarsus made the world tremble without 
any army at all. Saul of Tarsus ! I would 
give more for such a man in London than 
for ten thousand of the men who are 
mixed up with the world. What we want 
is to be out-and-out on the Lord's side, 
brain and heart both on fire for the Lord. 
It is said of David's mighty men that they 
were right and left-handed. They were 
wholly consecrated ; they could use their 
left or their right hands for the king. 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



39 



That is what we want in London. Men 
who are right-handed and left-handed for 
the King of Glory. Men who can use 
their eyes, and tongues, and ears, and 
everything for the Lord Jesus. Then 
London will be moved, and it will take 
very little, thank God, to move this city 
from end to end. This is a great city, but 
we have a great God with great power. 

NO HEART FOR THE WORK. 

But this is not all. God uses human 
instruments. Sometimes it is a wonder to 
me that He does not take the work out of 
our hands and put it into the hands of 
angels, or some one able to do it. There 
are but few now that say, " Here am I, 
Lord ; send me." The cry now is, " Send 
some one else." " Send the minister," 
says the elder ; " don't send me. " Or if he 
is not an elder, he gays, " Don't send me; 
send the church officers, the church-war- 
dens, but not me. I have not got the 
ability, the gifts, or the talents." Ah ! 
honestly say you have not got the heart, 
for if the heart is loyal, God can use you. 
It is really all a matter of heart. It does 
not take God a great while to qualify a 
man for his work if he has the heart for it. 
He may not have many talents, but if he 
makes good use of what he has, God will 
soon increase his talents. Look at Elisha ! 
There is another man. We would not 
have thought of Elisha to take the place 
of the wonderful prophet. We would have 
gone to Bethel, or Jericho, to the school 
of the prophets, and picked out a theologi- 
cal professor, or some great man. But 
Elijah finds a man in the fields behind 
twelve yoke of oxen, and Elisha slew his 
oxen, and consecrated everything to God, 
and started off with Elijah. And Elijah 
says one day, " What can I do for you ? " 
" Well," says Elisha, " give me a double 
portion of your spirit ! " " Well," said 
Elijah, "that is a great thing that you have 
asked ; but if you see me when I am taken 
up you shall have it." Then they started 
from Gilgal, and Elijah says, " You stay 
here, and I will go down to Bethel and see 
how the prophets are." But Elisha says, 
"As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul 
liveth, you shall not go without me." And 
I can see the men arm-in-arm going to 
Bethel. And when they got there, 
" Now," says Elijah to Elisha, " you stay 
here and I will go to Jericho to see how 
the prophets are going on there." He was 
going to visit the theological seminaries. 



" Well," says Elisha, " as the Lord liveth, 
and as thy soul liveth, you shall not go 
without me. And arm-in-arm they went to 
Jericho together. And when they got 
there, says Elijah, " You stay here and en- 
courage these prophets and I will go over 
Jordan " — Jordan means death and judg- 
ment. " As the Lord liveth, and as thy 
soul liveth, you shall not go without me," 
says Elisha, and arm-in-arm they went to 
Jordan together. And Elijah took up his 
mantle and struck the waters, and God 
held back the waters in the palm of His 
hand. And they walked over dry shod- 
But it had been revealed to those prophets 
that Elijah was going to be taken away, so 
fifty of (hem went out to watch. By-and- 
by there came a chariot of fire, and Elijah 
stepped in and swept away home. And as 
he went up his mantle fell, and Elisha left 
his own mantle and took Elijah's mantle. 
Then he went back to Jordan, and he took 
Elijah's mantle and struck the waters, and 
came through dry shod. And when the 
fifty prophets saw him, they cried, " The 
spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha." So 
it was. And God qualified him to take 
Elijah's place. 

THE SPIRIT OF ELIJAH WANTED. 

What we want is the spirit of Elijah, 
and our God is the same as his God. It 
was in the power of prayer that he stood 
before Ahab, and what we want is to get 
hold of God in prayer, and to have power 
from heaven — not human power, but power 
from on high, and God is ready and will- 
ing to give us that power. Yes, it is the 
weak things, it is the despised things 
that God uses. Those unlearned men 
from Galilee, Christ called them around 
Him. The last men that we should have 
thought of. He called those fishermen out 
of Galilee, and that little handful of men 
shook the world. It was these men that 
went around the world preaching the 
glorious Gospel and the glad tidings. Why, 
before He could use Saul He had to change 
his name, and call him Paul — Little !— lit- 
tle ! He had to show him that he was 
weak before He could use him. And Paul 
says, " When I am weak then am I strong. " 
It was not enticing words, it was not elo- 
quence that Paul had. Why, he said his 
speech was contemptible ! Yes, contempti- 
ble ! He did not profess to be an orator, 
but he preached Christ, the power of God, 
and the wisdom of God, Christ and Him 
crucified. What London wants the whole 



4° 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



world wants, and that is Christ and Him 
crucified. And the world will perish for 
want of Christ Let every man and woman 
that loves the Lord Jesus begin to publish 
the tidings of salvation. Talk to your 
neighbors and your friends. Run and 
speak to that young man ! Talk to him 
of heaven and of the love of Christ ! Tell 
him that you want to see him saved. And 
let the Christians of London in this hall 
to-night rise and take the city. Our God 
is able. Shout, for the King is in our 
midst ! Let us compass the walls of 
Jericho, and they will soon come tumbling 
down. Bear in mind this, that God is far 
more willing to bless us than we are to have 
Him. Let us keep close to Christ. That 
is what London wants. They don't like to 
have Christ preached faithfully ; but it is 
just what men don't like to have that we 
must give them. I learnt that long ago. 
The very medicine we don't like is the 
medicine that we ought to have, and the 
very truths that men object to and that 
make them angry, are the very truths that 
bring them to the cross of Christ. What 
we want is to preach Christ in season and 
out of season, — 

" Tell the old, old story, 

Of unseen things above, 
Of Jesus and His glory, 
Of Jesus and His love." 

Why, the stone that the builders have 
rejected has become the chief corner-stone. 
The very stone that they would not have 
was the very stone that God chose, and 
upon this stone He is building His Church 
now — upon the rock of ages. It is Christ, 
my friends, Christ that they want, and 
then they will get sure food for eternity. 

god's lion a lamb. 

The lion of hell was overcome by a Lion. 
The Lion of the tribe of Judah is what ? A 
Lamb. God's lion is a Lamb. There was 
weeping once in heaven. John said he 
wept much when he got there. There was 
a book handed to him, and there was not 
any one worthy to open the book. There 
was Abel, he was not worthy ; there was 
Enoch, who walked with God, but he was 
not worthy ; there was Noah, but he was not 
worthy ; there was Abraham, the friend of 
God, but he was not worthy ; there was 
Moses, who went up into the mountain and 
talked with God, and took the law from 
God's hands, but he was not worthy. There 
they were gathered from all climes and all 



ages, but not one of them was worthy ; and 
John looked down upon the earth, and 
there was not one worthy, and he wept 
because there was no one worthy to open 
the book. At last one touched him, and 
said, " Weep not, for there is one worthy ; 
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, He hath 
prevailed, and He is worthy." And he 
turned round to look at the Lion of the 
tribe of Judah, and behold, it was a slain 
Lamb. God's Lion is a lamb slain from 
the beginning of the world, and what we 
want is to go out and preach Christ. It 
is the weakness of God which overcomes 
the strength of man. It is the weakness 
of God that we want. The foolishness of 
God is worth more than the wisdom of the 
world. 

UNION ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS. 

Then there is another thing. If we 
are going to have success, let us have union. 
Now there are three classes, I believe, that 
ought to be in sympathy with this move- 
ment. The first class is ministers. Every 
minister that wants to crown Christ King, 
that wants to see souls saved, ought to be 
interested in this work. Why ? Because 
we come here to help you ; not to destroy, 
but to help, to build up, to strengthen every 
minister's hands, to help him to do his 
work. Then we ought to have sympathy 
from every Sabbath- school superintendent. 
We ought to have the sympathy of every 
teacher, of every worker, of every mission- 
ary, of every colporteur in London, and if 
we cannot have you here night after night 
let us have your prayers and your sympa- 
thy. Do not be criticising and finding 
fault ; but be much in your closet with 
God, and God will answer prayer, and 
there won't be a Sabbath-school, and there 
won't be a mission district, and there won't 
be a church in all London, but will be 
blessed if we are just working together 
and praying for a great blessing. 

APPEAL TO PARENTS. 

Then there is another class, — fathers 
and mothers. You that have children in 
this city of London ought to have sympathy 
with a movement of this kind. We ought 
to have your prayers, we ought to have 
your council, we ought to have your heart- 
felt sympathy. We have come here just 
to try in the name of our Master to 
win your children to God and to heaven, to 
win them to a pure life, to save them from 



the haunts of vice, from 



down 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



4i 



to a drunkard's grave. When I was in 
Liverpool the other day, a mother came to 
me and brought a photograph of a beauti- 
ful boy, seventeen years old. He is nine- 
teen now. She said, u That boy has. been 
gone two years, and I do not know where 
he is. He had trouble, and he fled from 
home, and my heart is just breaking. I 
do not know but that he is in London, and 
I give you his photograph, and if you see 
him in the audience there, I want you just 
to try and win him to the Lord, that he 
may come back to cheer my heart," and 
the great tears rolled down that mother's 
cheek. There is many a boy in London 
like that. We have come here after them, 
just in hopes that God will win them 
to Christ, and that they will go back to be 
a blessing to their parents and to the 
Church of God. If that young man is 
here to-night, I bring you good news. 
Your mother still loves you, and wants you 
to return. Her heart is just breaking for 
you. And let me say to every man and 
woman here to-night that is out of Christ, 
God wants you ; Jesus wants you. There 
is room in heaven for you ; and the Lord 
has sent us just to invite you to the 
Gospel feast. 

Let me say, before I close, that we want 
unity among God's people. Where there 
is union I do not believe any power, 
earthly or infernal, can stand before the 
work. When the Church, the pulpit, and 
the pew get united, and God's people are 
all of one mind, Christianity is like a red- 
hot ball rolling over the earth, and all the 
hosts of death and hell cannot stand be- 
fore it. I believe that men will then come 
flocking into the kingdom by hundreds 
and thousands. " By this," says Christ, 
44 shall all men know that ye are my disci- 
ples, if ye love one another." If we only 
love one another, and pray for one another, 
there will be success. God will not disap- 
point us. When General Grant was mov- 
ing on to Richmond, and his army had 
been repulsed in the Wilderness, he called 
together his co-commanders and held a 
council, and asked them what they thought 
he had better do. His leading generals 
and all thought he had better retreat. He 
heard them through, and then broke up 
the council of war, and sent them back to 
their headquarters; but before morning 
an orderly came round with a dispatch 
from the General directing an advance in 
solid column on the enemy at daylight. 
That was what took Richmond, and broke 



down the rebellion in our country. Chris- 
tians of London, let us advance in solid 
column against the enemy ; let us lift high 
the standard, and in the name of our God 
let us lift up our voice, and let us work 
together, shoulder to shoulder, and keep 
our eye single to the honor and glory of 
Christ. Let us pray that we may get self 
out of the way, and that Christ may be all 
and in all, and then we will have great 
success. Let our watchword be, " Here 
am I ; send me." 



II. 



CHRIST SEEKING THE LOST. 

" For the Son of man is come to seek and to 
save that which was lost." — Luke xix, 10. 

To me this is one of the sweetest verses 
in the whole Word of God. In that little 
short sentence we are told what the Son of 
God came into the world for, we are told 
what His mission to this dark world was. 
He came not to condemn the world, but 
that the world through Him might be 
saved. He did not come to make men 
wretched, He did not come to make us 
miserable ; but He came to save that which 
was lost. Now, when a prince, and es- 
pecially a crown prince, comes to London, 
what a royal reception you give him ; and 
the question is raised, what is he come 
for ? Now, here is the Prince of Heaven 
coming down into this dark world. What 
is He come for ? Why, we are told that 
He came to seek and to save that which 
was lost. And every man or woman in 
this audience is either lost or found. You 
are either saved or lost. And bear in mind 
that Christ takes the place of the seeker. 
No sooner did the news reach heaven that 
Adam had fallen in Eden than God came 
down to him. Adam ought to have gone 
up and down the garden of Eden crying 
out, " My God, where art Thou ? I have 
sinned, I have sinned and fallen." Instead 
of that he went away and hid himself, and 
God came down, and His voice was heard 
in the garden of Eden, " Adam, where art 
thou ?" It was the voice of Christ, the 
voice of love. But Adam had gone away 
frightened, and God took the place of the 
Seeker, and from the time of Adam's fall 
until the present, God has always taken the 
place of the Seeker. No man or woman in 
this audience has been saved but that He 
sought them first. We do not seek after 
Him until He first seeks after us. We do 



42 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



not go to Him by nature. Our nature is 
to go away from Him, as with Adam when 
he hid away from a loving God- Read 
what we have in the 15th chapter of the 
Gospel of St. Luke. It is not the lost 
sheep from the fold hunting up the Shep- 
herd, but it is the Shepherd seeking after 
the lost sheep. Whoever heard of a sheep 
which had strayed from the fold hunting after 
the shepherd ? And so Isaiah has told us, 
" All we like sheep have gone astray, we 
have turned every one to his own way," 
and the Great Shepherd has come down 
after us. 

THE LOST PIECE OF MONEY. 

And then, in the portion of Scripture I 
have read to you, there is that woman who 
had lost the piece of money. It was not 
that piece of money seeking its way back 
into the woman's pocket ; but it was the 
woman lighting a candle and taking a 
broom, and sweeping diligently until she 
found it. I can just imagine that some 
one had paid that woman a bill that day, 
and had given her ten pieces of silver. 
When she retired at night, she took the 
money out of her pocket to count it, and 
seeing the bulk looked small, she said to 
herself, " Well, this don't look like ten 
pieces ; I must have lost one piece ; where 
have I lost it ?" She begins to think where 
she has been that day. " I have not been 
out of the house ; it must be somewhere in 
the house," she says.* Then she goes and 
lights a candle, and gets a broom and 
sweeps the floor, and raises a great dust. 
And so it is when the Holy Spirit begins 
to seek after a soul ; there is some great 
commotion. So she begins to search and 
grope around ; she moves the chairs, the 
sofa, the table, and all the rest of the furni- 
ture, and looks in every corner until she 
finds the piece. Who was it that rejoiced 
— the piece of silver or the woman ? the 
sheep that was lost or the shepherd that 
found it ? It was the woman that rejoiced 
over the lost piece ; it was the shepherd 
that rejoiced over the lost sheep he had 
found. And so we find it is here. Christ 
takes the place of the seeker. " For the 
Son of man is come to seek and to save 
that which was lot." What Adam lost in 
Eden, I find in the second Adam. When 
God put Adam in Eden, He bound him 
strong to the throne of God with a golden 
chain. When Satan walked in, he broke 
the chain ; but the second Adam came to 
seek and to save that which was lost. 



What the first Adam lost for me I get in 
the second Adam. He came to seek and 
to save that which was lost. 

THE STORY OF BARTIMEUS. 

Now let us go back a little before the 
text. I am very often blessed in my own 
soul by taking a text all round. In the 18th 
chapter of the gospel of St. Luke, you will 
find Christ is going into Jericho ; and as 
He drew near the gates of Jericho there 
was a poor blind man who sat by the way- 
side, begging people to give him a farthing, 
and crying out, " Have mercy on a blind 
man !" This poor beggar met a man, who 
said to him, " Bartimeus, I have good news 
to tell you." l< What is it ?" said the blind 
beggar. " There is a man of Israel who 
can give you sight." " Oh, no," said the 
blind beggar, u there is no chance of my 
ever receiving my sight. I never shall see. 
In fact, I never saw the mother who gave 
me birth ; I never saw the wife of my 
bosom ; I never saw my own offspring. I 
never saw in this world, but I expect to 
see in the world to come." The man said, 
" Let me tell you, I have just come down 
from Jerusalem, and I saw that the village 
carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth, and I saw a 
man who was born blind, who had received 
his sight ; and I never saw a man with bet- 
ter sight. He does not have to use glasses 
now, and he was born blind." Then, for 
the first time in this poor man's heart, 
hope rises, and he says, " Tell me how the 
man got his sight ?" " Oh," says the other, 
" Jesus first spat on the ground and made 
clay, and put it on his eyes " — why that is 
enough to put a man's sight out, to fill a 
man's eyes with clay — " and then He told 
him to go and wash his eyes in the Pool 
of Siloam, and he would receive his sight. 
And then, Bartimeus, He does not charge 
you anything, you have no fee to pay ; you 
just tell Him what you want, and the poor 
man has as much influence as the rich. It 
does not need dukes, or lords, or influence ; 
you just call upon Him yourself ; and if 
He ever comes this way, don't let Him go 
back without your going to see Jesus." 
And Bartimeus said, " I will indeed do so, 
and ask Him for my sight." I can imagine 
him being led by a child to his seat as 
usual, and that he is crying out, " Please 
give a blind beggar a farthing." He hears 
the footsteps of the coming multitude, and 
inquires, "Who is it passing ? What does 
the multitude mean ?" They tell him it is 
Jesus of Nazareth passing by. The 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



43 



moment he hears that he says, " Why, that 
is the Man that gave sight to the blind." The 
moment it reached his ear that it was Jesus 
of Nazareth, he began to cry out at the 
top of his voice, " Jesus, Thou Son of 
David, have mercy upon me." Some of 
those who went before — perhaps Peter was 
one of them — rebuked him, thinking the 
Master was going up to Jerusalem to be 
crowned King, and did not want to be dis- 
tracted. They never knew the Son of 
God when He was here. He would hush 
every harp in heaven to hear a sinner 
pray; no music would delight Him so 
much. But the blind man lifted up his 
voice and cried still louder, " Thou Son of 
David, have mercy upon me;" and the prayer 
reached the ears of the Son of God, as 
prayer always will, and they led the poor 
blind man to Him. The Lord grant that 
each one here in this Agricultural Hall 
may cry out, " God, have mercy upon me 
a sinner; God, have mercy upon this soul 
of mine ;" and the Lord Jesus will be good 
to you. Well, when Jesus heard the blind 
beggar, He commanded him to be brought 
unto Him. So they ran to him and said, 
" Be of good cheer, the Master calleth thee ; 
He hath a blessing for thee." When Jesus 
saw him He said, " What can I do for you ?" 
i Lord, that I may receive my sight." " You 
shall have it ;" and the Lord gave it to him. 
"Ask, and ye shall receive." Oh, may sinners 
cry out to-night, " God, give me my sight ; 
God, be merciful to me a sinner." And 
now the beggar followed with the crowd, 
glorifying God. I can imagine he sang as 
sweetly as Mr. Sankey ; no one sang sweeter 
than he when he shouted, " Hosanna to the 
Son of David ;" no^ one sang louder than 
this man who had received his sight. Then 
he follows on with the crowd, which we 
see pressing into the gates of the city. I 
can imagine when he gets into the city he 
says to himself, " I will go down and see my 
wife " — having, of course, after those years 
of blindness, a curiosity to see what his 
wife looked like, also to see his children. 

THE CONVERSION OF ZACCHAEUS. 

As he is passing down the street a man 
meets him and turns round and says, 
" Bartimeus, is that you ?" " Yes, it's me." 
" Well, I thought it was, and yet I thought 
my eyes must deceive me. How did you 
get your sight ?" " I just met Jesus of 
Nazareth outside the walls of the city, and 
I asked Him to have mercy upon me, and 
He gave me my sight." "Jesus of Nazareth ! 



is He in this part of the country ?" " He is 
already on His way to Jerusalem. He is 
now going down to the eastern gate." " I 
should like to see Him," says the man, 
and away he runs down the street ; but he 
cannot get a glimpse of Him, being little 
of stature, on account of the great throng 
round Him. He runs to a sycamore tree, 
and says to himself, " If I get up there and 
hide, without any one seeing me, He can- 
not get by without my getting a good look 
at Him." A great many rich men do not 
like to be seen coming to Jesus. Well, 
there he is in the sycamore tree, on a 
branch hanging right over the highway, 
and he says to himself, " He cannot get by 
without my having a good look at Him." 
All at once the crowd burst out. He 
looks at John — " That's not him ;" he 
looks at Peter—" That's not him." Then 
he saw One who was fairer than the sons 
of men. "That's Him." And Zacchaeus, 
just peeping out from amongst the branch- 
es, looked down upon that wonderful, yes, 
that mighty God-Man, in amazement. At 
last the crowd comes to the tree, and it 
looks as if Christ was going by ; but He 
stops right under the tree, and all at once 
He looks up and sees Zacchaeus, and He 
says to him, " Zacchaeus, make haste and 
come down." I can just imagine Zac- 
chaeus says to himself, — " I wonder who 
told Him my name. I was never intro- 
duced to Him." But Christ knew all 
about him. Sinner, Christ knows all about 
you ; He knows your name and your house. 
Do not think God does not know you. If 
you would try to hide from Him, bear in 
mind you cannot hide from Him. He 
knows where each one of you is ; He 
knows all about your sins. Well, He said 
to Zaccho3us, " Make haste and come 
down." He may have added, " This is 
the last time I shall pass this way, Zac- 
chaeus." That is the way He speaks to 
sinners, — " This may be the last time I 
shall pass this way ; this may be your last 
chance of eternity." He may be passing 
away from some soul to-night. Oh, sin- 
ner, make haste and come down and re- 
ceive Him. There are some people in 
this nineteenth century who do not believe 
in sudden conversions. I should like 
them to tell me where Zacchaeus was con- 
verted. He certainly was not converted 
when he went up into the tree ; he cer- 
tainly was converted when he came down. 
He must have been converted when he 
came down. He must have been convert- 



44 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



ed somewhere between the branches and 
the ground. The Lord converted him 
just right there. People say they do not 
believe in sudden conversions, and that if 
a man is converted suddenly he won't hold 
out, he won't be genuine. I wish we had 
a few men converted like Zacchaeus in 
London ; it would make no small stir. 
When a man begins to make restitution, 
it is a pretty good sign of conversion. Let 
men give back money dishonestly obtained 
in London, and see how quick people will 
believe in conversion. Zacchaeus gave 
half his goods to the poor. What would 
be said if some of the rich men of London 
did that ? Zacchaeus gave half his goods 
all at once ; and he says, " If I have taken 
anything from any man falsely, I restore 
him fourfold." I think that is the other 
half. But to get Christ is worth more 
than all his wealth. I imagine the next 
morning one of the servants of Zacchaeus 
going with a check for ;£ioo, and saying, 
"My master a few years ago took from 
you wrongfully about ^25, and this is res- 
titution money." That would give con- 
fidence in Zacchaeus' conversion. I wish 
a few cases like that would happen in Lon- 
don, and then people would not go on talk- 
ing against sudden conversions. 

THE COMPLAINTS OF MODERN PHARISEES. 

Now Christ becomes the guest of Zac- 
chaeus, and while he is in his house the 
Pharisees begin to murmur and complain. 
It would have been a good thing if all 
those Pharisees had died off with that gen- 
eration ; but, unfortunately, they have left 
a good many grandchildren behind them, 
living down here now in the afternoon of 
this 19th century, who are complaining 
"This man receiveth sinners." 

Many men complain because the Lord 
saves men for nothing, but the Lord deals 
in sovereign grace. But while they are 
murmuring and complaining on every oc- 
casion, Christ uttered the wonderful words 
of my text for to-night, " For the Son of 
Man is come to seek and to save that 
which was lost." "I did not come to con- 
demn Zacchaeus, to make him wretched ; 
he is wretched enough now. I did not 
come here to torment him, I came to bless 
and to save him." When Christ com- 
menced His ministry in the wonderful ser- 
mon on the mountain, there is blessing, 
blessing, blessing. He came to bless man, 
and poor Zacchaeus needed blessing, and 
He first gave it him. If there is some poor 



Zacchaeus here to-night, or if there is some 
poor blind beggar here to-night, He will 
bless you. The Son of man is come for that 
purpose; He left Heaven and a throne for 
that. He came " to seek and to save that 
which was lost;" and so the vilest man in 
London can be saved if he will be. The 
Lord is able and willing to save. " He is 
come to seek and to save that which was 
lost." A man must believe he is lost be- 
fore he can be saved. One reason why 
many are not saved is because they do not 
believe they are lost. They fold their 
filthy rags of self-righteousness about 
them, instead of acknowledging that they 
are miserable sinners. 

PREACHING IN THE TOMBS. 

While I was occupying the Fulton- 
street pulpit in New York, the governor 
of the City Tombs Prison said he would 
like to have me go down and talk to the 
prisoners. After the prisoners were all 
brought in, I found there was no chapel 
in connection with that prison, and I 
had to talk to them in their cells. I 
talked from a little iron railing running 
right across the narrow passage-way, to 
some three or four hundred prisoners, and 
could not see a man. I had never had 
that experience before. After I had done, 
I thought I would like to see who I had 
been talking to, and how they had received 
the interpretation of the Gospel. I went 
to the first door and looked in the little 
window of a cell where the inmates could 
have best heard me. There were some 
men playing at cards. No doubt they had 
been playing all the while I had been 
preaching. They did not want to hear. 
Some men cQme here to-night out of cu- 
riosity ; they do not want to hear the glad 
tidings, and they do not believe the Gos- 
pel's good news. Well, these men had been 
playing cards all the while I was preaching. 
I said, " My friends, what is your trouble?" 
" Well, stranger, false witnesses appeared 
against us. We are innocent." I said to 
myself, " Christ cannot save anybody here ; 
there is nobody guilty." I went to the oc- 
cupiers of the next cell and asked why they 
were there. They said, " We got into bad 
company, and the man who done the deed 
got clear, and we got caught." I said, 
" Christ cannot save anybody here." I 
went to the next cell and asked how it was 
with them. They said, " False witnesses 
went into court and swore falsely." I said, 
"Christ cannot save anybody here." I 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



45 



went to the next cell and said, " How is it 
with you?" The reply was, " The fact is, 
the man who done the deed is very much 
like me- I am perfectly innocent." I 
never found so many innocent men in a 
prison in my life. It seemed that the mag- 
istrates who sent them there were the only 
guilty ones. 

THE PENITENT PRISONER. 

I began to get discouraged, but when I 
had got almost through I found one man 
with his elbows on his knees and two 
streams of tears running down his cheeks. 
I looked in at the little window, and I said, 
" My friend, what is the trouble ?" He 
looked up with despair and remorse on his 
face, and said, " My sins are more than I 
can bear." I said, " Thank God for that." 
" Ain't you the man that has been talking 
to us ? I thought you said you was a 
friend ; and you say you are glad my sins 
are more than I can bear." "Yes." "I 
don't understand your friendship if you 
are glad my sins are more than I can bear." 
" I will explain it to you. If your sins are 
more than you can bear, you will cast them 
on One that will bear them for you." "Who 
is that ?" " It is the Lord Jesus ;" and I 
stood there at that prison door and preach- 
ed Christ, and held up Christ for that poor 
wounded man, who was believed to be the 
worst man in the whole prison of the city 
of New York. After telling him of Christ 
I got down and prayed. After I prayed I 
said, " Now you pray." He said he could 
not pray; it would be blasphemy. But the 
man put his head on the pavement, and. 
like the publican, without even lifting his 
eyes towards heaven, he cried, " God be 
merciful to me a sinner." After prayer, 
when he got up, I took his hand, and he 
gave me a good warm grasp of the hand ; 
a hot tear fell on my hand, which burned 
down into my soul. I got so interested in 
the man that before I started for the hotel, 
I said, " I will pray for you to-night, and I 
would have you join me in prayer at the 
same time." That night, while I was pray- 
ing in my hotel, as I told him I should 
pray for him at a certain hour, it seemed 
as if I knew that God was answering my 
prayer. I could not leave New York and 
go back to Chicago until I had seen that 
man. No sooner did I fix my eye on the 
man's countenance, than I saw that a great 
change had taken place. Remorse and 
gloom had fled away, and the face of the 
man was streaming with celestial light. He 



seized my hand, and tears of joy trickled 
over his cheeks. I said, " Tell me all 
about it ;" and he said, " Last night, when 
in my cell praying — I do not know the 
exact time, because when I came to prison, 
they took away my watch, but I think it 
was about midnight — the Lord Jesus to.k 
away the burden, and set me entirely free ; 
and since then I am the happiest man in 
the whole city of New York." And I be- 
lieve he was, for he told me of the love, 
joy, and peace. that none but one that had 
received the Lord Jesus knew anything 
about. After I had talked and prayed with 
him some time, I bade him good-bye. 

GOOD NEWS FOR THE LOST. 

Now, my friends, can you tell me how it 
was the Lord Jesus came into that prison, 
and passing one cell after another, went to 
that one cell and set the captive free ? It 
was because he believed he was lost, that 
he had sinned and come short of the glory 
of God. He called to God for mercy, and 
God dealt him mercies. If there is a man 
or woman in this audience to-night who 
believes they are lost, I have good news to 
tell them — Christ will come after you. He 
came to save you, He came to bless you. 
Now, do not let this night pass, my friends, 
without just accepting salvation as the gift 
of mercy from a loving God. He wants to 
deal out mercy and grace for every soul 
here. The Son of man is come — what for ? 
To seek and to save. And do you think 
He is not able to save ? And is He not 
willing to save? There is not a man in 
this audience but knows deep down in his 
heart that Christ is able and willing to 
save. My friends, let Him save you to- 
night while you are on praying ground; 
while God is talking to you, and offering 
you salvation without money and with- 
out price. The gift of God is eternal 
life. That is the gift to-night. Who 
will have it ? Who will take the gift ? 
Who will accept the gift of God ? 
Who will receive it ? While I am talk- 
ing to you, lay hold on eternal life. While 
I am speaking to you, just receive the gift 
of God, and go on your way rejoicing. 
Now, I have no doubt that while I am 
speaking to you, there are a good many of 
you that have got friends praying for you ; 
I have received a good many letters, es- 
pecially from mothers, stating that they 
have sons in London, and praying that 
the Holy Ghost might win their souls to 
Christ. Maybe some of those sons are 



4 6 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



here now. One of these young men spoke 
to me last night, and told me his mother 
was very anxious that he should attend 
these meetings. I have remarked the 
great number of young men who come to 
our services. I never saw more young 
men at a meeting than I see to-night. I 
may be speaking to more young men than 
ever I spoke to in my life. How comes 
this, that there are so many young men 
here ? Perhaps they have in the country a 
loving mother praying that the Holy Ghost 
may convert their hearts ; or a loving sis- 
ter, or a loving father, or brother, pleading 
hard for their salvation. Well, if you have 
got these friends that are diligent for your 
salvation, treat them kindly, for you will 
not always have them. 

A YOUNG MAN'S TALE. 

I went to a meeting in Chicago a few 
years ago, and a young man got up and 
said, " Will you allow me to speak to these 
young men ? " At first, as he was a stran- 
ger, I thought I wouldn't ; and then I 
thought he might have a message from 
God, so I said, " Say on." And that 
young man just pleaded with those young 
men, and said, in closing his speech : " If 
any of you have fathers, or mothers, or 
Christian friends, who are diligent for your 
salvation, treat them kindly, for you will 
not always have them. I was an only son, 
and I had a godly father, who went down 
to his grave praying for me, for I was a 
wayward boy. After father died, mother 
began to be more anxious than ever. 
Sometimes she would weep over me, and 
say, ' Oh, my boy, if you were only a 
Christian I should be so happy.' Some 
nights I heard her in her chamber weep- 
ing, and crying to God for her boy. I 
could not stand it any longer, so I had to 
leave home. I must become a Christian, 
or get away from home. So I ran away. 
It was a long time before I heard of her, 
and then I was told she was sick, and the 
thought came stealing over me, ' She may 
die. I will go back.' And then I thought, 
* If I go back home, I will have to become 
a Christian. I cannot live at home with 
mother without becoming a Christian ; I 
will not go.' The next time I heard from 
that mother I heard she was much worse. 
Then the thought came to me, ' If my 
mother died, and I should never see her, 
I should never forgive myself. So I start- 
ed off. There was no railway into the 
village, and I had to take coach. I got to 



the village about sundown ; the moon had 
commenced to shine. My mother lived 
about a mile and a half from the little 
town, and to get home I had to go by the 
old village churchyard, so I thought I 
would go and look at father's grave, and 
see if there was any new-made grave. As 
I drew near my heart began to quake. I 
could not tell why. The moon showed 
me a new-made grave, and then for the 
first time in my life the question occurred 
to me, ' Who is going to pray for my lost 
soul now? Father's gone and mother's 
dead.' I took up some of the earth and 
found it was just damp, and I threw myself 
on my mother's grave, and there I spent 
the night. I did not move until the break 
of day ; but before I left that grave, my 
mother's God had become my own. And, 
young men, I believe God, for Christ's 
sake, forgave me that night, but I never 
forgave myself." Young man, if you have 
a praying mother or a praying father, treat 
them kindly, for you will not always have 
them ; they will soon all be gone, and that 
voice which is now pleading day and night 
for your soul will be hushed in the grave. 
Therefore, this night, while they 'are pray- 
ing, seek the kingdom of God ; and it 
won't take an anxious sinner long to meet 
an anxious Saviour. Let your hearts be 
lifted up now, friends, to Christ in united 
prayer for every unsaved soul in this hall 
this night ; and now let us all have a few 
moments of silent prayer. 



III. 
SAVED OR LOST. 

THE ONE ALTERNATIVE. 

" For the Son of man is come to seek and to 
save that which was lost." — Luke xix. 10. 

I want to call your attention to the same 
text that we had last night. I had really 
only just commenced with the text when it 
was time to close. Now before I begin, I 
want to ask a question of every man and 
woman in this room, and I should like every 
one just to take the question home with 
him — "Am I saved, or am I lost?" It 
must be one thing or the other. There is 
no neutrality about the matter. A man 
cannot be saved and lost at the same time ; 
it is thoroughly impossible. Every man 
and woman in this audience must either be 
saved or lost, if the Bible be true; and if 
I thought it was not true, I should not be 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



47 



here preaching, and I would not advise 
you people to come if you think the Bible 
is not true ; but if the Bible is true, every 
man and every woman in this room must 
either be in the dark or out of it, either 
saved or lost. 

Last night, a man yonder told me that 
he was anxious to be saved, but Christ had 
never sought for him. I said, " What are 
you waiting for?" "Why," said he, "I 
am waiting for Christ to call me ; as soon 
as He calls me I am coming." Now, I do 
not believe there is a man in London that 
the Spirit of God has not striven with at 
some period of his life. I do not believe 
there is a person in this audience but that 
has been called ; I do not believe that there 
is a person in this audience but that the 
Son of God has sought for and is seeking 
for him. 

HOW THE SAVIOUR SEEKS. 

Now, for a minute or two, let us look 
and see how He seeks. There are different 
ways in which the Son of man seeks. He 
very often seeks though some faithful min- 
ister. Many of you have sat under faithful 
ministers ; you have heard heart-searching 
sermons, and the truth has gone down 
deep into your hearts ; you have been many 
a time touched, and tears have come down 
your cheeks, and you have felt " almost 
persuaded to be a Christian." That is the 
Son of God seeking for your soul through 
that minister. You have heard a sermon 
sometimes that has roused you, so that you 
could not forget it, and for days you have 
been under deep conviction. That is the 
way the Son of God seeks. Some of you 
have had a tract put in your hand, with a 
startling title, perhaps, " Eternity ! where 
will you spend it ?" and the arrow has gone 
home. You may have been troubled, and 
may have pulled out that arrow and tried to 
forget it. That is the Son of God seek- 
ing for your soul through that tract. 
Perhaps some of you have had a faithful 
Sabbath-school teacher who has wept over 
your souls in your earlier days, who prayed 
for you and plead with you to become Chris- 
tians. That is the Son of God seeking for 
your soul through that faithful Sabbath- 
school teacher. Many of you have had 
godly, praying mothers, that have prayed 
all night for your soul. It is through the 
prayers of such a mother that the Son of 
God is seeking you. Many of you, per- 
haps, have been laid away upon a bed of 
sickness, and have had time to meditate 



in the silent watches of the night; the 
Spirit of God has come into your chamber, 
has come to your bedside, and you have 
been troubled about eternity and about the 
grave, and where you would spend eternity, 
and how it would be beyond the grave ! 
That is the Son of God seeking for your 
soul. Some of you have lost friends. I 
doubt whether there is a man or woman in 
this audience who has not lost some loved 
one ; it may be a praying mother, it may be 
a loved father, it may be a dear child ; and 
when death came and took that one from 
you, you were greatly troubled. You might 
have taken that friend by the hand, and as 
he or she was dying, you might have said, 
"I will meet you in heaven." The Spirit 
of God strove in you for weeks" ^and months, 
and yet the Spirit left you because you 
strove against and resisted the workings of 
the Holy Ghost. My friends, that is the 
way the Son of man seeks. Can you rise 
in this hall to-night and say that the Son of 
God never sought for you ? Is there a per- 
son in this hall that can rise and say, " I 
have lived twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years, 
and the Son of man never sought for my 
soul " ? I do not believe that man or 
woman lives in all London. 

PRAYING FOR LONDON. 

My* friend, He has been calling for you 
from your earliest childhood, and He has 
put it into the hearts of God's own people 
just to call you together in this hall. This 
hall has been opened at great expense, and 
prayer is going up all over the Christian 
world for London. Perhaps there never 
has been a time in the history of your life 
when so many were praying for you as at 
the present time. That is the Son of God 
seeking for your soul through the prayers 
of the Church, through the prayers of min- 
isters, through the prayers of the saints, not 
only in London, but throughout the world. 
I have received news to-day in a dispatch 
sent across from America that all the 
churches nearly, in America, are praying 
for London. What does it mean ? God 
has laid it upon the heart of the Church 
throughout the world to pray for London. 
It must be that God has something good in 
store for London ; the Son of man is coming 
to London to seek and to save that which 
was lost, and I pray that the Good Shep- 
herd may enter this hall to-night and may 
come to many a heart, and that you may 
hear the still small voice : " Behold, I 
stand at the door and knock; if any man 



48 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



will hear My voice and open the door, I 
will come in unto him and will sup with 
him, and he with Me." O friends, open 
the door to-night, and let the heavenly 
visitor in. Don't turn Him away any 
longer. Don't say with Felix, " Go thy 
way this time, and when I have a conven- 
ient season I will call for thee." Make 
this a convenient season ; make this the 
night of your salvation. Receive the gift 
of God to-night, and open the door of your 
heart, and say, " Welcome, thrice welcome 
into this heart of mine ; " and He will 
come. You invite Him, and see how 
quickly He will come. My friend, He is 
come. " The grace of God hath appeared, 
bringing solvation unto all men." Oh, that 
the loss of a soul may wake us up to-night, 
that we may know what it means ! I be- 
lieve the world is asleep — and the Church 
too. I do not believe there would be a dry 
eye in this audience if we could for five 
minutes get a glimpse of a lost soul. We 
mourn with men who have lost health ; we 
pity them, we sympathize with them, and 
we say, "It is very sad." We mourn 
with men who have lost wealth, and we 
think it is very sad. But what is health, 
what is wealth, compared with the soul ? 

A TOUCHING CHICAGO STORY. 

I was in an eye infirmary at Chicago, on 
the Sabbath before the great fire. A mother 
brought her little baby to the doctor — a 
child only a few months old — and she 
wanted the doctor to look at the child's 
eyes. He did so, and he said to the mother, 
•* Your child is blind ; it will never see 
again ; you have neglected it ; if you had 
brought it here three days ago I could have 
saved the sight.' 5 ' The moment the doctor 
said that, the mother pressed the little child 
to her bosom, and there was a wail that 
came from that mother that broke my 
heart. I wept, the doctor wept ; we could 
not help but weep. She pressed her dar- 
ling child to her bosom. " My darling," 
she said, " are you never to see the mother 
that gave you birth ? My child \ my child ! " 
It was a sight that would move almost any 
heart. But what is the loss of sight com- 
pared with the loss of a soul? I would 
rather a thousand times have these eyes 
dug out of my head, and go through the 
world blind, than lose my soul. I have a 
son, and no one but God knows how I love 
him ; but I would see those beautiful eyes 
dug out of his head to-night rather than 
see him grow up to manhood and go down 



to the grave without Christ and without 
hope. The loss of a soul ! Christ knew 
what it meant. That is what brought Him 
from the bosom of the Father ; that is what 
brought Him from the Throne ; that is what 
brought Him to Calvary. The Son of God 
was in earnest. When He died on Calvary 
it was to save a lost world ; it was to save 
your soul and mine. 

THE LOSS OF A CHILD. 

A friend of mine in Chicago took his 
children out one beautiful day in the sum- 
mer. They were the children of a large 
Sabbath-school, and they were to have a 
day in the country. There was a little boy 
on the platform of the railway-station, and 
by some mistake he fell down under the 
wheels, and the whole train passed over 
him. The train went back, and the body 
was found so mangled that the superintend- 
ent had to take off his coat to tie up the 
mangled corpse. He left it at the station, 
and, taking two of the teachers with him, 
went to the house of the parents. (The 
little boy was an only one.) When they 
got to the house one said to the others, 
" You go in." " No, I can't," was the reply. 
The superintendent wanted the teachers to 
go in, because he thought the parents 
would blame him ; but the teachers refused 
to go. So the superintendent went in. 
He found the parents in the dining-room 
at dinner- He called the father out, think- 
ing that he would tell the father first, that 
he might break the news to the mother. 
Taking him into another room, he said, 
" I have sad news to tell you ; your little 
Jemmie has got run over." The father 
turned deadly pale. " Is he dead ? " he 
asked. " Yes, sir, he is dead." Then the 
father rushed into the dining-room, and in- 
stead of breaking the news gently to his 
wife, he cried out like a madman, " Dead, 
dead ! " The mother said, " Who ? " Our 
little Jemmie." Said the young man who 
told it me the next day, " I cannot tell you 
what I suffered when that mother came 
rushing out to me, and said, ' Where is my 
boy ? Where are his remains ? Take me 
to them that I may see him.' I told the 
mother that the body was so mangled that 
she could not identify it ; and she fainted 
away at my feet." Said he, " Moody, I 
would not be the messenger of such tidings 
as that again if you would give me all Chi- 
cago." There is not a mother or a father 
in this hall but would say it is terrible to 
lose a beautiful child like that, to have it 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



49 



swept away so suddenly. Well, it is terri- 
ble, but, my friend, what is that in com- 
parison with the loss of the soul ? 

A MORE TERRIBLE LOSS. 

Suppose that child had grown up to man- 
hood, and had died a drunkard, and gone 
down to a drunkard's grave. See the 
hundreds and thousands in London reeling 
their way down, not only to the drunkard's 
grave, but to the drunkard's hell. I tell 
you, my friend, I would rather have a train 
a hundred miles long run over my boy, so 
that I could not find a speck of his body — 
I would rather have him die in early child- 
hood, than have him grow up to manhood, 
and die without God and without hope. It 
is terrible for a man to die outside the Ark. 
It is a terrible thing for a man to die with- 
out hope and without mercy, especially in 
this Gospel land, where he is exalted to 
heaven with privilege, where the Gospel is 
proclaimed faithfully from Sunday to Sun- 
day, yea, from day to day, and one might 
say, from hour to hour. Through the 
length and breadth of this great city, the 
Gospel has been proclaimed as faithfully, 
and perhaps more faithfully, than in any 
other city in the world. London, I say, is 
exalted to heaven with privileges, and it is 
a sad thing, indeed, that a man should go 
to hell from London, for then he goes 
down in the full blaze of the Gospel. He 
goes down from a Gospel land. He goes 
down to hell from a land where he has 
heard the glorious tidings of Christ and 
Him crucified. Yes; you say it is very 
sad to see a child like that swept away, or 
to see a little child Ipse its sight. You say it 
is very sad to see a man lose his wealth and 
become poor. It is very sad to see a man 
lose his reputation. But, my friends, bear 
in mind there is hope. A man can come 
to Christ if he has lost his reputation and 
his character. Christ will " receive " men 
who have not got any reputation ; Christ 
will " receive " men who have not got any 
character ; and they may have a seat in 
the kingdom of God. But, if a man dies 
without God, then there is no hope. You 
go to the grave and weep over it, and when 
the morning of resurrection shall come, that 
man will rise to everlasting shame and con- 
tempt. The star of Bethlehem will not 
shine over that grave. Oh, my friends, let 
us wake up,'and let us haste to the rescue. 
Let us, as fathers and mothers, see that our 
children are brought into the ark, that 



they are saved, that they are gathered early 
into the fold of Christ. 

THE POOR DRUNKARD. 

I was over in this country in 1872. About 
that time there was a young man who had 
come from the country to London. He 
was the only son of a widow. He was her 
prop and her stay ; her hope and her com- 
fort. Oh, how that widow loved that boy ! 
How her prayers went up for him ! When 
he came to this city his employer invited 
him to the theatre, and invited him to 
drink. I have met that mother since I have 
been on this trip, and she told me that the 
employer discharged that young man after 
he became a drunkard ; that he refused to 
have him in his employ ; that her son came 
home and died a poor drunkard. That 
mother is now weeping over that boy, and 
she mourns as a mother without hope, be- 
cause it is said that no drunkard shall in- 
herit the kingdom of God. Now, that is 
terrible. How many mothers have sons 
in London hastening to ruin ! God wants 
you and me to go and tell them the glad tid- 
ings, to invite them to the Gospel feast. 
And there is not a man in all London so 
far gone but that Christ will save him. 
If we will just go and labor for them 
and pray for them, God will give us the 
privilege of winning many of them into 
His kingdom. 

" SAVED !" 

A few years ago — I think it was only two 
years this month — a vessel of the White 
Star line went to pieces on a rock off the 
coast of Newfoundland, and 500 men went 
down to a watery grave. There was a 
young man of great promise, having a large 
business in Detroit, who was on board that 
vessel, and soon after she went down there 
came a dispatch to Detroit to his wife and 
partner to say that he was lost. The busi- 
ness was suspended, and that young wife 
was thrown into deep mourning. Her 
heart was just broken, and the mother's 
heart was bleeding that her boy had gone 
down, as they supposed. But in a few 
hours there came another dispatch over the 
wires, " Saved !" with his name signed to 
it. They felt so grateful, that they had the 
dispatch framed and put up in his office, 
and there it is. If you go into that man's 
office now to do business with him, you 
may see that dispatch, " Saved !" Now, 
let the news flash over the wires to heaven 



5° 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



to-night, sinner, that you want to be saved. 
You can be saved, if you will. God is able 
to save. God is willing to save. God is 
waiting to save. Now, this night, make up 
your mind that you will be saved. Make 
up your mind that you will press into the 
kingdom. God invites you to come. He 
invites you to come just as you are. " Him 
that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast 
out." 

ROWLAND HILL AND LADY ANNE ERSKINE. 

I have seen a story in print, I do not 
know whether it is true or not, but it illus- 
trates a good point. I see our friend Dr. 
Newman Hall here to-night. The story I 
speak of is told of a predecessor of his, 
Rowland Hill. One day he was preaching 
in the open air to a vast crowd of people, 
when Lady Anne Erskine was riding by. 
She said to her footman, "Who is that 
man who is drawing so vast a crowd?" 
She was then told that it was the celebrated 
Rowland Hill. " Drive me," said she, 
** near the platform, so that I may listen." 
The man went on preaching, and, seeing 
by the lady's dress that she belonged to 
royalty, he turned to some one on the plat- 
form and inquired who it was. They told 
him it was Lady Anne Erskine. He con- 
tinued his preaching, and then all at once 
he stopped and said, " My friends, I have 
got something to-day to put up for sale. I 
am going to sell it by auction." Everybody 
of course was startled to think that a man 
should stop in the middle of a sermon to 
sell something by auction. Said he, "It is 
the soul of Lady Anne Erskine. Is any 
one going to bid for her soul ? Hark ! Ah ! 
I hear a bid. Who bids ? ' Satan.' ' Sa- 
tan, what will you give for this soul ?' I 
will give riches and honor and pleasure. 
Yea, I will give the whole world for her 
soul.' Hark! I hear another bid. Ah! 
methinks I hear another bid. Who bids? 
' The Lord Jesus.' ' Jesus, what will you 
give for this soul ?' 'I will give peace and 
joy and comfort that the world knows not 
of. Yea, I will give eternal life for her 
soul.' " He then turned to Lady Anne 
Erskine, and said, " You have heard the 
two bidders for your soul. Which bidder 
shall have it ?" It is said that she ordered 
her footman to open her carriage door, and, 
rushing in, she began to weep, and said, 
" The Lord Jesus shall have my soul, if He 
will accept it." Now that may be true or 
not ; but there is one thing that I know to 
be true — that there are two bidding for 



your soul and mine. Satan bids, and he 
offers that which he cannot give. He is a 
liar and has been from the foundation of 
the world. I pity the man who is living on 
the promises of the devil. He will never 
satisfy. But the Lord Jesus is able to give 
all that He offers. He offers peace and 
joy and comfort that the world knows not 
of. He offers eternal life in the kingdom 
of God. He offers a seat in His mansions. 
We are to sit with Him upon His throne. 
May God help you this night. Make up 
your minds to-night that you will not leave 
the Agricultural Hall until the great ques- 
tion of eternity is settled, until you have 
crossed the borderland, and pressed into 
the kingdom of God. Make up your mind 
to this. Make up your mind that this shall 
be the night of your salvation. " Now is 
the accepted time ; now is the day of sal- 
vation." 

THE BOY AND THE DARK MOUNTAIN. 

A few years ago there was a little story 
going through the American religious press 
that touched my heart as a father. It was 
about the death of a little boy. The mother 
thought her little boy was safe in the arms 
of Jesus. She thought he was trusting 
sweetly in Christ ; but one day as he drew 
along towards the chambers of death, she 
came into his room, and he said, as he was 
looking out of the window, " Mother, what 
are those mountains that I see yonder ?" 
The mother said, " Eddie, there is no 
mountain in sight of the house." "Don't 
you see them, mother?" said he ; " they're 
so high and so dark. Eddie has got to 
cross those mountains. Won't you take 
him in your arms and carry him over those 
mountains ?" The mother said, " Eddie, 
I would if I could, but I cannot." Now, 
I want to say to you that there is a time 
coming when your mother cannot help 
you. There is a time coming when your 
friends cannot help you. When you come 
to the mountain, if you have not Christ, you 
must take that journey alone, for there will 
be no one to help you then. What will you 
do in the swelling Jordan, without a Savior, 
without Christ ? but, if you have Him, 
He won't leave you. What does He say ? 
" Yea, though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. 
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." 
Now, this little boy, instead of being 
troubled by a valley, was troubled by a 
mountain. The mother prayed with that 
little boy. Then she said, " Eddie, you 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



5* 



must take your eyes off your mother. You 
must have your eyes upon Jesus. He will 
help you." The mother again prayed 
with him, and tried to get his little mind 
off from the dark mountain. All at once 
he said, " Mother, hark ! don't you hear 
them call ?" " Hear who, Eddie ?" " Don't 
you see the angels just on the other side 
of the mountain ? They are calling for 
me. Take me, mother, and carry me over 
the mountain." The mother said again, 
: ' Why, my boy, I cannot go with you ; but 
Christ will be with you. He will take you 
safe over the mountains if you trust Him." 
Again the mother prayed for her little boy, 
for she could not bear to have him die in 
that state of mind, so troubled about the 
mountain. At length he closed his eyes 
and he prayed, " Lord Jesus, be with me, 
and take me over the mountains." Then 
he opened his little eyes, and said, " Good- 
bye, mamma; Jesus is coming to carry me 
over the mountains;" and the little sufferer 
was gone. Sinner, Christ has come to- 
night to carry you over the mountains. 
He will carry you safe. He will carry 
you over the mountains of unbelief, if you 
will only let Him. Oh ! may God help 
you this night to press into His kingdom. 



IV. 

MAN SEEKING FOR GOD. 

" Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, 
call ye upon Him while He is near." — Isaiah 
lv. 6. 

For the last two nights some of you 
may remember I have been speaking about 
the Son of man seeking that which was 
lost. Now to-night I want to bring out 
the other side — man seeking for God. 
"Seek ye the Lord while He may be 
found, call ye upon Him while He is 
near." Now in the 29th chapter of the 
prophecy of Jeremiah we are told how we 
may find God God says, " Ye shall find 
Me when ye shall search for Me with all 
your heart." Now it won't take a great while 
for an anxious sinner to meet an anxious 
God. It won't take a great while for a 
man who is really in earnest about the sal- 
vation of his soul to find peace in Him. I 
never yet found a man really with his 
heart set upon this one thing — to find 
God, — but that he soon found his way 
into the Kingdom of Heaven. The great 
trouble with men is, that they are not 
really in earnest. Men don't seek for God 



as they seek, for wealth and position down 
here in this world. Suppose I should say 
to-night that I lost last night in this hall a 
diamond worth ^20,000 — which I didn't 
do; but suppose I should say I did, and 
that I would give any one ^10,000 that 
found it. I would not give much for the 
sermon. You would be thinking about 
the diam ond all the evening ; you would 
be thinking, " I wish I could find that dia- 
mond. I should like that ^10,000." And 
I can imagine as soon as the meeting was 
over — and some of you would not wait for 
that — you would look about and search 
this hall. How earnestly you would seek 
for that diamond ! Well, is there a man 
or woman in this audience that will say 
that salvation is noj worth more than all 
the diamonds in the world, and that it is 
not worth all the goods of this world? 
Now, is it not a fact that every man and 
woman here to-night can find God if they 
will ? " Seek ye the Lord while He may 
be found." Why, the way that text reads 
implies that there is a time coming when 
man cannot find God, when men shall seek 
and not be able to find. We read of such 
a thing. We read of their knocking at the 
door when it is shut. We read that they 
sought with tears, but sought too late. 
Not but what there was a time. I believe 
there is a time in the history of every man 
when he can accept the gift of God, if he 
will ; when he can press into the kingdom 
of God, if he will. 

A LESSON FROM THE GOLD FIELDS. 

When a man becomes really in earnest 
about the salvation of his soul, when a 
man seeks for that pearl of great price, the 
kingdom of God, as men seek for wealth 
and honor down here, and as men seek for 
position, then it is we will see hundreds 
and thousands pressing into the kingdom 
of God. I was out on the Pacific Coast 
three or four years ago, and the news 
would come to a town that there was gold 
found sometimes three or four hundred 
miles away. Then that town would be 
full of excitement ; the fever would rise 
very high, and in course of twenty-four 
hours you would see men pack up, and 
away they would go, leaving their wives, 
their children, their homes, comfort and 
everything, and go off these hundreds of 
miles to seek for wealth. There was a re- 
port that a silver mine had been found in 
the Rocky Mountains, and men would go 
off thousands of miles, and go down into 



52 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



the bowels of the earth, working hard, day 
and night, in ord°r to find a little of the 
silver. I could not help but admire their 
earnestness. I am quite sure you like to 
see a man in earnest, and going into busi- 
ness with all his heart. You like to see a 
man, whatever he does, do it with a whole 
heart. You do not like a half-hearted 
man. Why should not we be just as much 
in earnest about the salvation of our souls 
as men are to accumulate wealth ? Let a 
war break out, and there is a chance of 
men achieving honor on the battle-field, 
and men come forward and volunteer. 
They leave their homes, their wives, and 
their children, and go thousands of miles 
away, to India or China, or all round the 
world, if there is a chance of getting honor, 
just for a few short fleeting years, down 
here in this world. If men are willing to 
give up everything for wealth or honor in 
this life, how much more ought we to be 
willing to give up everything for the life 
to come ! The gift of God is life without 
end, eternal life. May every anxious man 
and woman get it to-night. Of course you 
admit that this is worth more than every- 
thing else. If you do, why don't you ask 
for it? God says you shall find Him if 
you seek Him with all your heart. 

A LIFEBOAT STORY. 

I remember reading some time ago of a 
vessel being wrecked at sea. The life- 
boats were lowered, and there were not 
enough boats to take all on board. There 
was one man in the water who, anxious 4^o 
save his life, swam up to the lifeboat, and 
reached out his hand and wanted to get 
in, and one of the men in the boat drew a 
sword and cut off that hand. The man 
swam up again and laid hold of the boat 
with the other hand, and the man in the 
boat drew the sword again and cut off the 
other hand. But the man was so anxious 
and in earnest about saving his life, that 
he swam up again and seized the boat with 
his teeth. And then the men in the boat 
relented ; they would not do any more to 
him ; they could not cut off his head, so 
they took him into the boat and saved his 
life, because he was so much in earnest. 
See what men will do for their lives. Let 
a man be in a wrecked vessel who is worth 
a million sterling, and if that vessel can be 
saved from going down only by his giv- 
ing away that million sterling, he will 
give it in a minute to save his life for a 
few short fleeting years. But here is ever- 



lasting life, eternal life ; that is the gift 
of God, and the Lord God says you shall 
have it when you call on Him. " Seek 
ye the Lord while He may be found, 
and call ye upon Him while He is near." 

TWO DUBLIN BROTHERS. 

When we were in Sheffield a few weeks 
ago, there were two brothers that came 
from Dublin to Sheffield, and they came 
to the inquiry-room, and some one said 
to them as they were talking, " What 
brought you here? how is it you have 
come from Dublin ?" Then the men said 
that they had had a brother converted in 
a meeting while we were there, and such a 
great change had come over him. They 
found that he possessed something that 
they had not got, and they had come to 
Sheffield in hopes of finding what their 
brother had found. Do you think these 
men did not find what they had come for? 
I never knew a man that tried but what he 
found peace. 

AN ANXIOUS MOTHER. 

I see right before me to-night a mother 
with her boy, a young man sitting by her side. 
A little while ago the mother left London 
and went to Dundee, because her heart 
was set upon the conversion of her two 
boys. I remember how she used to plead 
for these two boys. I remember talking 
with one of them one. night, and I plead 
with him to accept Christ. The next 
morning we left for Glasgow, and they 
left for London ; and when I came up to 
London a few days ago, that mother came 
to tell me that boy had been taken away by 
death. Now, you know, that mother took 
the boy off to Dundee that he might hear 
and be saved. It was a good thing to see 
a mother burdened for the salvation of her 
boy. It was God that put it in her heart 
to take that boy off to that distant city, that 
he might find peace. Mother, if you have a 
son out of Christ, let your prayers be going 
up to Christ day and night. Father, let us 
have your prayers that your son may be 
converted. Let us pray together and be 
in earnest about this great question of sal- 
vation. God was in earnest when He sent 
us the prophets, and we killed them. Then 
He sent us His only begotten Son, and we 
murdered Him. And after Christ went 
back to heaven He sent down the Holy 
Ghost. Oh, my friends, God is in earnest 
about the salvation of man's soul; and I 
would to God that London might wake up, 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



53 



and that men throughout this city would 
be in earnest about the salvation of their 
souls. Is the Bible a myth, is the Bible 
a sham ? If it is, why, then, away with 
it ! But if it is true that man is lost, and 
that Christ is come to save him, then let 
us earnestly seek the kingdom of God. 
"Seek ye the Lord while He may be 
found." That is the text, and it applies 
to everyone here. These little children — 
I am glad to see them here night after 
night — may they seek the kingdom of God 
to-night. • Little girl, seek the kingdom of 
God to-night. Young man, young lady, 
seek the kingdom of God to-night. And 
you who are advancing in the evening of 
life — your natural force is becoming abated; 
your eye is growing dim — my friend, make 
haste and get into the kingdom of God. 
Do not put off the salvation of your soul 
for another night ; but let this be the night, 
let this be the hour. that you accept of the 
gift of God. Make up your mind you will 
not leave this Hall to-night until you have 
sought the kingdom of God ; until the 
great question of eternity is settled. 

A PREPARATION FOR JUDGMENT. 

Eighteen years ago, in America, there 
was a wave of blessing passed over the 
land. A great many people thought it 
was all excitement. You could get into 
the train at New York and go clear into 
the western prairie, and all along you would 
see the churches all open and lit up, and 
crowds of worshipers. The whole nation 
was moved, and half a million were brought 
into the Church of God. Little did we 
know what was taking place. God was 
preparing that nation for a baptism of 
blood. After a few years the terrible civil 
war broke out. It was God calling His 
children in. It was God preparing the 
nation for the great affliction brought upon 
us for our sin. I have noticed very often 
grace precedes judgment. I do not know 
what is going to take place. My friends, I am 
one of those men who believe God is work- 
ing in a wonderful way. The tidings from 
every city is this — the people are praying. 
It is a question in my mind if there was ever 
so much prayer going up to God as at the 
present. Not only here, but all round the 
world, we have God's people making their 
hearts burdened for the salvation of souls. 
And is it not God working ? Will there 
ever be a better time for you to seek the 
kingdom of God than the present, when 
there is such a great awakening, and when 



there is such a spirit of expectation ; when 
the Church of God is coming up as one 
man, and the spirit of unity prevails ? 
Think of the praying ones here. Do you 
believe there were ever so many men and 
women praying for your soul as there are 
here to-night ? Look over this audience 
— what are these Christians doing now ? 
They are silently praying God. I can see 
they are praying. There is a young man 
with his mother sitting by his side. That 
mother is pleading, " God save my boy to- 
night !" May it go down deep into his soul ! 
" Seek ye the Lord while He may be 
found." I call on you to come to God to- 
night. Can He be found to-night ? Let 
me ask you that question. Do you be- 
lieve it ? 

AN APPEAL TO THE MINISTERS. 

I appeal to these ministers here — Do 
you believe that God can be found here 
to-night ? I ask you ministers of religion 
whether you believe that God can be 
found here to-night ? (The ministers on 
the platform loudly answered, " Yes.") 
Do you believe God can be found 
here to-night? (Replies of "Yes," from 
the audience.) Then, if it is true, do 
not trifle, do not make light. Call 
upon Him while He is here. Is He here % 
We have very good reason to believe that 
last night there were some that found 
Christ. If it is true He came into this hall 
last night and saved some, will He not save 
you to-night, if your heart is set upon that 
one thing, " I must be saved ?" Is He not 
able and willing, and anxious to save you ? 
And now, would you just ask Him ? Let 
there be a cry from the very depths of your 
heart to-night, " Lord, God, save my soul. 
Lord, God, save me just now." Call upon 
Him while He is near. If He is near won't 
you call upon Him ? Don't let that scoff- 
ing man next to you keep you out of the 
kingdom of God. There is a scornful 
look upon the face of that man next to 
you ; perhaps he is making light of what I 
am saying. Don't mind him, don't look to 
him, but just look right up to God, and 
ask Him to save you. Now, every true 
friend — and you all have friends — every 
true friend, if you could get their advice 
to-night, would tell you to be saved now. 
Ask that minister sitting next to you, " Had 
I better seek the kingdom of God to- 
night?" What would he tell you ? "By 
all means, don't put it off another minute." 
Ask that godly, praying mother by your 



54 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



side, " Mother, is it best to seek the king- 
dom of God to-night?" Would she say 
put it off one week, or put it off one month ? 
Do you think that mother would say that ? 
There is not a Christian mother in this hall 
who would say it. I doubt if there is any 
unconverted mother either here whose ad- 
vice would be to put off becoming a Chris- 
tian. Ask that praying sister of yours, ask 
that praying brother, ask any friend you 
have here — if you are sitting near one — if 
it is not the very best thing you can do. 
And then shout up to heaven and ask Him 
who is sitting at the right hand of God, 
and who loves you more than your father 
or your mother, or anyone on earth — who 
loves you so much that He gave Himself 
for you ; ask Him what He will have you 
do, and hear His voice rolling down from 
the throne of God, " Seek ye first the king- 
dom of God." That is what He will say. 
And then shout down to the infernal re- 
gions, and ask those down there — you may 
have some acquaintances gone there — and 
what will they say ? What did that man 
say we hear of there ? " Send someone to 
my father's house, for I have five brethren, 
that he may testify unto them, lest they 
also come into this place." Heaven, earth, 
and hell unite in this one thing — " Seek 
first the kingdom of God." Don't put it 
off. Call upon Him while He is near. And 
if you call upon Him in real earnest He 
will hear that call. 

THE PENITENT THIEF. 

Look at the thief on the cross. It may 
have been the thief had a praying mother, 
and that mother may have taught him this 
55th chapter of Isaiah. That mother may 
have taught him this very verse ; and while 
on the cross it flashed across him, and he 
remembered the teaching of his mother, 
and said, "This is truly the God man." 
And he heard Christ make that wonderful 
prayer — " Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do ;" and then the thief 
called upon Him, " Lord, remember me 
when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." 
And no sooner did that prayer fall upon 
the ears of the Son of God, than He an- 
swered it, " This day shalt thou be with Me 
in paradise." He called, and the Son of 
God answered him. Blind Bartimeus 
when the Son of God went by called out, 
and they tried to hush him, but the Lord 
heard his call and prayer, and He answer- 
ed his prayer and gave him his sight. Oh, 



my friends, to-night call upon Him, aud 
He will have mercy upon you, and open 
your eyes and give you sight. Look at 
that poor leper. He cried, " Lord, if Thou 
wilt Thou canst make me clean." And the 
Lord answered him, " I will ; be thou 
clean." Don't forget, my friends, that there 
is a time coming when your calling and 
your prayer will not be answered; when 
you will call to the mountains and hills to 
cover you from the wrath of God. We are 
hasting on to the time when London and 
other places will pray ; when scoffers will 
pray and call on the mountains and rocks 
to cover them from the wrath of the Lamb. 
Their prayer has already been put in print 
for that terrible day of the Son of man 
which is coming. What does God say? 
" Seek the Lord while He may be found." 
My friends, seek Him to-night. He can 
be found here to-night. 

TOO LATE. 

I have no doubt that those who would 
not pray when the ark was building, prayed 
when the flood came, but their prayer was 
not answered. I have no doubt that when 
Lot went out of Sodom, Sodom cried to 
God, but it was too late, and God's judg- 
ment swept them from the earth. My 
friends, it is not too late now, but it may 
be at twelve o'clock to-night. I cannot 
find any place in this Bible where I can 
say you can call to-morrow. I am not justi- 
fied in saying that. There it is said, " Be- 
hold, now is the accepted time, now is the 
day of salvation." Those men of Jerusa- 
lem, what a golden opportunity they had, 
with Christ in their midst. We see the 
Son of God weeping over Jerusalem, His 
heart bursting with grief for the city as He 
cried, " Oh ! Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! thou 
that stonest the prophets, how often would 
I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her 
brood, but ye would not." He could look 
down forty years, and see Titus coming 
with his army, and besieging that city. 
Eleven hundred thousand people perished 
in that city. They called upon God then, 
but it was too late. To-night it is a day 
of mercy. It may be I am talking to some- 
one to-night whose days of grace may be 
short, to someone who may be snatched 
away very soon. There may be someone 
here to-night who will never hear another 
Gospel sermon ; someone who may be 
hearing the last call. My friends, be wise 
to-night. Make up your mind that this 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



55 



shall be the night, and this the very hour 
that you will seek the kingdom of God, 
and seek it with all your heart. 

AN INCIDENT AT NIAGARA. 

A few years ago, two young men were 
seen on the Niagara river in a little canoe. 
They were drinking champagne, and hav- 
ing what they called a jolly time. Some 
of the men on the shore saw their danger, 
as they were hastening on towards the cat- 
aract, and they lifted up their voices and 
warned them ; but the young men only 
mocked them, as the current swept them 
along. They were not rowing, they were 
doing nothing. Some people think if they 
are doing nothing they will be saved. My 
friends, if you just neglect salvation you 
will be lost. You are in the current of 
time which is sweeping you on towards 
eternity. Well, these young men were not 
rowing, but the current was taking them 
on. It wasn't long before someone else 
saw them and lifted up their voices ; but 
they only made light of them. And the 
same is happening here to-night. The cur- 
rent bore them on towards death. At last 
a third party saw them further on, and lift- 
ed up their voices, and told them the cat- 
aract was not far away. But the men made 
a mock of them, and made light of what 
they said ; and the current still swept them 
on. At last one of them said, " Hark ! I 
hear the rapid." They seized the oars and 
pulled against the current ; but it was too 
late. They had got too far down, and in a 
little time two men were seen going down 
the fall, and they leaped over into the jaws 
of death. How many in London are doing 
the same thing? You are warned again 
to-night. My warning to-night is that you 
seek the kingdom of God. Make up your 
mind not to leave this hall until you have 
accepted the gift of God, which is eternal 
life. God wants to bestow it upon every 
one. Do not neglect the appeal of to- 
night ; but " turn ye, for why will ye die, 
oh, house of Israel ?" Oh ! that all of you 
may turn unto the Lord and live. 

A STORY FROM THE FARM. 

A few years ago, before I had left the 
farm, I was talking one day to a man who 
was working there, and who was weeping. 
I said to him, " What is the trouble ?" And 
he told me a very strange story. When he 
started out in life, he left his native vil- 
lage, and went to another town to find 



something to do, and he said he was unsuc- 
cessful. The first Sabbath he went to a 
little church, and there the minister preach- 
ed from this text : " Seek ye first the king- 
dom of God ;" and he said that he thought 
the text and the sermon were for himself. 
The sermon made a deep impression upon 
him, and he could not forget it for some 
days. But he said he did not want to be- 
come a Christian then. He wanted to get 
rich, and when he was settled in life he 
would seek the kingdom of God. He 
went on, and the next Sabbath he was in 
another village, and he went to church 
again, and he made a point of going to 
church every Sunday morning. It was not 
long before he heard another minister 
preach from the same text, " Seek ye first 
the kingdom of God." He thought surely 
some one must have been speaking to the 
minister about him. For the minister just 
pictured him out. But he said he would 
not seek the kingdom of God then ; but 
when he got settled in life, and had con- 
trol of his time, and was his own master, 
he would then seek the kingdom of God. 
Some time after he was at another village, 
and he went to church again, and he had 
not been going a great while when he 
heard the third minister preach from the 
same text : " Seek ye first the kingdom of 
God and His righteousness, and all things 
else shall be added." He said it went right 
down into his soul ; but he calmly and delib- 
erately made up his mind that he would 
not become a Christian, that he would not 
seek the kingdom of God, until he had got 
settled in life, and owned his farm, and 
then he would attend to the salvation of 
his soul. Many a man thinks he can't 
make money if he becomes a Christian. 
How the devil deceives you ! This man 
said, " Now I am what the world calls rich. 
I go to church every Sunday, but I have 
never heard a sermon from that day to this 
which has ever made any impression upon 
my heart. My heart is as hard as a stone." 
As he said that tears trickled down his 
cheeks. I was a young man at that time 
and did not know what it meant. 

IN THE ASYLUM. 

When I was converted the first man that 
came to my mind was this man, and I 
thought when I should go back home I 
would see him, and tell him, and preach 
Christ to him. When I went back home 
I said to my widowed mother, naming this 
man, " Is he still living in the same place ?" 



56 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



My mother said, " Didn't I write to you 
about him?" I said, "No, you didn't; 
what about him ?" u He is gone mad, and 
has been taken away to the insane asylum, 
and everyone that goes up to see him he 
points his finger at and says, ' Seek ye first 
the kingdom of God.' I thought I should 
like to see him, but I found he was so far gone 
that it would do no good, and therefore I 
didn't go. The next time I returned home 
my mother told me he was at home idiotic. 
I went to the house to see him, and there 
was that vacant look in his eye when I 
went in. I said, " Do you know me ?" He 
pointed his finger at me, and said, " Young 
man, seek ye first the kingdom of God." 
God had driven that text into his mind, 
but his reason was gone. The next 
time I returned home he was gone ; 
and three \ears ago last autumn, when 
I visited my father's grave, I noticed 
a new grave - stone had been put up. I 
stopped to read it, and found it was my 
friend's. The autumn wind was making a 
mournful noise, and I seemed to hear the 
wind whispering the text, " Seek ye first 
the kingdom of God." Now, my friend, 
will you seek the face of God ? Will you 
seek the kingdom of God to-night, with all 
your heart ? Seek the Lord while He may 
be found. You have heard these witnesses 
say that He may be found here to - night. 
Is not it the very worst thing you can do 
to go out of this hall without obtaining 
salvation, without being saved? Young 
man, make up your mind this night that 
you will seek the kingdom of God now. 
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, 
now is the day of salvation. Christ is in- 
viting you to come — " Come unto Me all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest." Oh, may we all find 
rest in Christ to-night. 



V. 



THE CALL TO SELF-EXAMINA- 
TION. 

" Where art thou ? " — Genesis iii. 9. 

This was the first question put to man 
after his fall. As I said the other night, 
Adam would have gone up and down Eden 
crying out, " My God, my God, where art 
Thou ? " but God took the place of the 
seeker. God came down, and indeed you 
hear His voice ringing and echoing through 
the Garden of Eden, " Adam, where art 



thou ? " It was the voice of grace, it was 
the voice of love, it was a loving God 
seeking after His lost one. " Adam, where 
art thou ? M Six thousand years have rolled 
away, and yet this text has come rolling on 
down the ages. I doubt whether there has 
been any one of Adam's sons who has not 
heard this text at some period or other of 
his life — sometimes in the midnight hour 
stealing over — " Where am I ? Who am 
I ? Where am I going ? and what is going 
to be the end of this ? " I think it is well 
for a man to pause and ask himself that 
question ; and will you do it to-night, my 
friends ? I do not ask you where you are 
in the sight of. your neighbors; I do not 
ask you where you are in the sight of your 
friends ; I do not ask you where you are in 
the sight of 'the community in which you 
live. It is of very little account where we 
are in the sight of one another, it is of 
very little account what men think of us ; 
but it is of vast importance what God 
thinks of us — it is of vast importance to 
know where men are in the sight of God ; 
and that is the question to-night. It was 
the first question put to man after his fall. 
It was a very small audience that God had, 
Adam and his wife, and Gbd was the 
preacher. Adam, like a great many of us, 
in fact, like the whole of the human race, 
thought he could hide from God. " After 
he had fallen he went away and hid." 
Many and many a one here to-night in this 
hall undoubtedly has the same thought. 
He thinks that his life is hid ; he thinks 
that God does not know anything about 
him, that God's eye is not upon him. But, 
my friends, God knows all about him ; 
God knows our lives a great deal better 
than we do ; God's eye is bent upon us 
from our earliest childhood up. By day 
and by night God's eye is bent upon every 
one in this hall. And now, my friends, I 
would just ask you to ask yourselves, 
" Where am I ? " Ah ! " Where art thou ? " 
I wish I could get this audience just to 
stop five minutes and think. That is just 
what the devil does not want you to do. 
Think, my friends, think. 

I want to divide this audience into three 
classes, and I think it is a proper division. 
There are just three classes here to-night. 
The first class are those that are Christians 
or professing Christians ; and the second 
class those that have wandered from God, 
and are what the Bible calls backsliders ; 
and the last class are those that never have 
been saved. 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



57 



THE CURSE OF CHRISTIANITY. 

i. Now, would the Christians here to- 
night in this hall, each one, just take that 
question home. I do not mean to stand 
here and say that I am on a higher plat- 
form than the rest of you, or that I do not 
mean to apply this question to myself; but 
it is good for Christians to stop sometimes 
and ask, " Where am I in the sight of 
God ? What am I doing ? Is my life here 
as it should be in the community I live in ? 
Am I a light in this dark world ? " Now 
Christ says, " Ye are My witnesses." 
Christ was the Light of the world, and the 
world would not have the true Light ; the 
world rose up and put out the Light, and 
now Christ says, " I leave you down here 
to testify here of Me ; I leave you down 
here as My witnesses." That is what the 
apostle meant when he said that Christians 
are to be living epistles, known and read 
of all men. I will venture to say that if I 
just ask those who profess to be Christians 
— those that really are Christians — to rise 
in this hall, and by that act say, " I am on 
the Lord's side," there would not be many 
of you who would be with me ; there 
would be many of you who would say, " I 
do not think it is right to have it put in 
that way." But Paul tells us to be ready 
to give a reason for the hope that is within 
us. I do not have much .hope of there 
being a reformation until we get a division 
between the Church and the world. If a 
man is for God, let him say so. If a man 
is for God, let him come out and be on 
God's side ; and if he is for the world, let 
him be in the world. This serving God 
and the world at the same time — this being 
on both sides at the same time — is just the 
curse of Christianity at the present time. 
It retards the progress of Christianity more 
than any other thing. " If any man will 
be My disciple, let him take up his cross 
and come after Me." And in another 
place He says, " Let him take up his cross 
daily and follow Me." Now, what does 
London want ? 

THE QUESTION OF A DUBLIN MAN. 

I see a man on this platform — I do not 
know if he remembers it — but when I was 
here in 1867, there was a merchant who 
came over from Dublin, and was talking 
with this business man in London ; and as 
I happened to look in, this business man 
in London introduced me to the man from 
Dublin. The Dublin man said to the 



London man, alluding to me, " Is this 
young man all O O ? " Said the London 
man, " What do you mean by O O ? " 
Said the Dublin man, " Is he Out-and-Out 
for Christ ? " I tell you it burned down 
into my soul. This friend said I was a 
little ashamed, but I. thought I was not, 
though I was a young man then. It means 
a good deal to be O O for Christ, but that 
is what all Christians ought to be, and 
their influence would be felt in this 
city very soon, if men who are on the 
Lord's side would come out and take their 
stand, and lift up their voices in season and 
out of season. 

Professed child of God, where art thou ? 
Now take it home with you ; take it to 
heart to-night ; ask, Where am I ? There 
are a great many in the Church who make 
one profession, and that is about all you 
hear of them ; and when they come to die 
you have to go and hunt up some musty 
old church records to know whether they 
were Christians or not. God won't do 
that. I have an idea that when Daniel 
died, all the men in Babylon knew whom 
he served. There was no need for them to 
hunt up old books. His life told his story. 
What we want is men with a little courage 
to stand up for Christ. When Christianity 
wakes up, and every child that belongs to 
the Lord is willing to speak for Him, is 
willing to work for Him, and, if need be, 
willing to die for Him, then Christianity 
will advance, and we shall see the work of 
the Lord prosper. There is one thing 
which I fear more than anything else, and 
that is the dead, cold formalism of the 
Church of God. Talk about the isms ! 
Put them all together, and I do not fear 
them so much as dead, cold formalism. 
Talk about the false tsms ! There is none 
so dangerous as this dead, cold formalism 
which has come right into the heart of the 
Church. There are so many of us just 
sleeping and slumbering while souls all 
around are perishing. 

AN AMERICAN ANECDOTE. 

There was a little story going the round 
of the American press that made a great 
impression upon me as a father. A father 
took his little child out into the field one 
Sabbath, and he lay down under a beauti- 
ful shady tree, it being a hot day. The lit- 
tle child ran about gathering wild flowers 
and little blades of grass, and coming to 
its father and saying, "Pretty! pretty!" 
At last the father fell asleep, and while he 



58 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



was sleeping, the little child wandered 
away. When he awoke, his first thought 
was, " Where is my child ?" He looked 
all around, but he could not see him. He 
shouted at the top of his voice, and all he 
heard was the echo of his own voice. 
Running to a little hill, he looked around 
and shouted again, but all he heard was 
the echo of his own voice. No re- 
sponse ! Then going to a precipice at 
some distance, he looked down, and there 
upon the rocks and briers, he saw the 
mangled form of his loved child. He 
rushed to the spot, took up the lifeless 
corpse and hugged it to his bosom, and ac- 
cused himself of being the murderer of his 
own child. While he was sleeping his 
child had wandered over the precipice. I 
thought as I heard that, what a picture of 
the Church of God ! How many fathers 
and mothers, how many Christian men are 
sleeping now while their children wander 
over the terrible precipice a thousand times 
worse than that precipice, right into the bot- 
tomless pit of hell. Father, where is your 
boy to-night ? It may be just out here in 
some public-house; it may be reeling 
through the streets of London, drunk ; it 
may be pressing on down to a drunkard's 
grave. How many fathers and mothers are 
there in London — yes, praying Christians 
too — whose children are wandering away 
while they are slumbering and sleeping ? 
Is it not time that the Church of God 
should wake up and come to the help of 
the Lord as one man, and strive to beat 
back those dark waves of death that roll 
through our streets, bearing upon their 
bosom the noblest young men we have ? 
Oh, my God, wake up the Church ! And 
let us trim our lights and go forth and 
work for the kingdom of God. 

THE GOSPEL TAKING A FRESH START. 

My friends, I believe there has never 
been a time, in our day at least, when 
work for Christ was more needed than at 
present. I do not believe there ever was in 
your day and mine a time when the Spirit of 
God was more poured out upon the world. 
There is not a part of Christendom where 
the work is not being carried on, and it 
looks very much as if the glad tidings 
were just going to take, as it were, a 
fresh start and go round the globe. It is 
time for you, Christians here in London, 
to rise as one man. You live at the very 
centre of the world, and if London is 
moved, the world is moved. May the Lon- 



don Christians come up as one man. 
Thank God you are here to-night, and may 
God fire up every heart. It is not only 
brains that are wanted, but the heart on 
fire, and when the heart is on fire and filled 
with the Holy Spirit, and with the love of 
God, then God can use us and work 
through us. 

A SCOTTISH BACKSLIDER. 

2. But the other class — backsliders — 
where are you ? I can j ust imagine oVer 
there a young man who came up to Lon- 
don five years ago. Perhaps he came from 
Scotland. He was a member of the Church 
there ; he was a teacher in a Sabbath- 
school ; but when he came to London he 
found society a little different from what it 
was in Scotland. He found himself 
among strangers, and he thought he would 
not just take a class at once in the Sab- 
bath-school. So he gave up teaching in 
the Sabbath-school ; he gave up all work 
for Christ. It may be a few months ago 
he was invited to go to a theatre ; and al- 
though your conscience said you ought not 
to go, you went. And then you were in- 
vited into a public-house. It may be you 
got to drinking; it may be you are under 
the influence of liquor here to-night. 
Young man, " where art thou ?" Come 
now, backslider, tell me, are you happy? 
Have you had a happy hour since you 
left Christ ? Does the world satisfy you ? 
Do those husks that you have got 
far off in a foreign country satisfy you ? 
I have traveled much for a young man, 
but I never found a happy backslider 
in my life. I never saw a man that was 
really born of God, and born again, and 
born of the Spirit, that ever could find the 
world satisfy him afterward. I pity the 
backslider, but I want to tell you that the 
Lord Jesus pities you a good deal more 
than any one else can pity you. He knows 
how bitter your life is, He knows how 
dark your life is, and He wants you to 
come home. Oh, backslider, come home 
to-night. I have come with a loving mes- 
sage from your Father. He will receive 
you with joy and gladness, and He will say 
as of him mentioned in Luke xv., " Bring 
out the best robe, and put it upon him, kill 
the fatted calf, put a ring on his hands and 
shoes on his feet, and let us rejoice and be 
glad, for the wanderer is come home, the 
dead is alive again." Oh, prodigal, come 
home to night. Backslider, while 1 am 
speaking, say down in the depths of your 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



59 



heart, " I will come back to-night." Say as 
the prodigal of old did, " I will arise and go 
to my Father," and He will receive you. I 
never heard of a backslider coming home 
but God received him. I never heard of a 
prodigal with his face toward home but 
God was ready to receive him. Did you 
ever read of such? Never. I defy any 
man to say he ever knew a really honest 
backslider want to get home but God was 
willing to take him in. And He takes you 
back just as you are. He will restore His 
love unto your heart to-night if you will 
only come. 

A CHICAGO BOY AND THE GAMBLERS. 

A good many years ago, before Chicago 
had become a large city, it was a grain 
market. There were no railways running 
there then, and the grain used to be shipped 
on the lake. There was a man living out 
in the Western prairies, a good many miles 
from Chicago, a farmer and a minister (that 
was a very common thing in those early 
days out in the West), and he sent his only 
son into Chicago with a load of grain. He 
waited and waited for his boy to return, 
but he did not come home. At last the 
father could wait no longer, so he saddled 
his horse and went into Chicago. He went 
round to the places where he had sent his 
boy to sell grain, and he found that he had 
sold it. Then he feared that some one had 
murdered him, and he got detectives on his 
track. They tracked him into a gambling 
den, where he had gambled away the whole 
of his money. After he had done that the 
men said, " Sell your horses and machine 
and then you can get all the money back 
again and go home to your father, and 
no one will know anything at all about it." 
That is the way the devil leads men on. 
He sold his horses and machine, and 
gambled that money away too. Like the 
man who was going to Jericho, they stripped 
him, and then they cared no more about 
him. What could he do ? He was ashamed 
to go home to meet his father, and he fled. 
The father knew what it all meant. He 
knew the boy was ashamed to come home. 
He was grieved to think that the boy should 
have such feelings towards him. That is 
just exactly like the sinner. He thinks be- 
cause he has sinned God will have nothing 
to do with him. My friend, if you have 
sinned, come and ask God to forgive you, 
and He will forgive you What did that 
father do'? Did he say, " Let the boy go ? " 
No ; he went after him. He arranged his 



business and started after the boy. And I 
want to say to you that from the time when 
Adam fell to the present time God has been 
seeking after His children. That man 
went from town to town. When he got into 
the pulpit to preach, when he had finished 
his sermon he told the story of how he had 
lost his boy, and described him, and he 
asked any of the audience who might ever 
meet with him to write and let him know. 
At last he found that he had gone to Cali- 
fornia, thousands of miles away. Did that 
father say, " Let him go " ? No, off he 
went to the Pacific coast, seeking the boy. 
He went to San Francisco, and he adver- 
tised in the paper that he would preach at 
such a church on such a day. When he 
had preached he told his story, in hopes 
that the boy might have seen the advertise- 
ment and come to the church. When he 
had done, away under the gallery there was 
a young man who waited until the audi- 
ence had gone out ; then he came towards 
the pulpit. The father looked, and saw it 
was that boy, and he ran to him, and pressed 
him to his bosom. The boy wanted to con- 
fess what he had done, but not a word 
would the father hear. He forgave him 
freely, and took him to his home. My 
friends, you have been enticed away by the 
devil ; now, God is inviting you to come 
home to-night. Don't go out of this hall 
until you have returned to your Father's 
house. Come home, oh, backslider. Oh, 
wanderer, return to-night. 

ALL SEEKERS FINDERS. 

3. The last class I want to speak to for 
a few minutes are those that have no God, 
no hope, no Christ, no peace, no joy. I 
want to tell you to-night how you can be 
saved if you will. If you really want to 
pass from death to life, if you want to 
become an heir of eternal life, if you 
want to become a child of God, make up 
your mind this night that you will seek the 
Kingdom of God; I tell you upon the 
authority of this Word that if you seek the 
Kingdom of God you will find it. No man 
ever sought Christ with a heart to find 
Him who did not find Him. Now stop 
a moment. Let us be still just for a mo- 
ment ; for if there is any time in a man's 
life when he wants to think, it is on an 
occasion like this. Now, friends, you that 
are not Christians, just ask yourselves 
where you are. Ask, " Where am I ? " 
Here you are, surrounded by a praying 
circle. Young man, right by your side, it 



6o 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



may be, is your father, and at this very- 
minute he is lifting his prayers to God for 
you. I have received numbers of letters 
from mothers, stating that their young men 
would be here to-night, and they are pray- 
ing for you. Young man, will you not 
yield to that praying mother ? Will you 
not go home to-night and make her heart 
glad by telling her that you have given 
yourself to Jesus, that her God is your 
God ? While the minister is offering sal- 
vation, there are men praying for your sal- 
vation. Just lay hold on eternal life. Make 
up your mind that you will not go away 
until the great question is settled. I never 
knew a man make up his mind to have the 
question settled, but it was settled soon. 
This last year there has been a solemn 
feeling stealing over me. I am what they 
call in the middle of life, in the prime of 
life. I look upon life as a man going up a 
hill, and then down again. I have got to 
the top of the hill, if I should live the full 
term of life — three- score years and ten, and 
am just on the other side. I am speaking 
to many here who are also on the top of 
the hill, and I ask you, if you are not 
Christians, just to pause a few minutes, and 
ask yourselves where you are. Let us look 
back on the hill that we have been climb- 
ing. What do you see ? Yonder a grave- 
stone ; it marks the grave of a praying 
mother. Did you not promise her when 
she was dying that you would meet her in 
heaven ? Am I not speaking to some here 
to-night who made that solemn promise? 
Young man, have you kept it ? Look a 
little further up the hill. There is a grave- 
stone that marks the grave of a little child 
— it may have been a little lovely girl — 
perhaps her name was Mary ; or it may 
have been a boy, Charlie ; and when that 
child was taken from you, did you not prom- 
ise God, and did not you promise the 
child, that you would meet it in heaven ? 
Is the promise kept ? Think ! Are you 
still fighting against God? Are you still 
hardening your hearts ? I would to God 
that you would to-night settle this ques- 
tion. Now, look down the hill. What do 
you see ? Yonder there is a grave : we 
cannot tell how many days, or years, or 
weeks it is away ; we are hastening towards 
that grave. It may be the coffin is already 
made that this body shall be laid in ; it 
may be that the shroud is already waiting. 
My friend, is it not the height of madness 
to put off salvation so long ? Undoubtedly 
I am speaking to some who will be in eter- 



nity a week from now In a large audi- 
ence like this, during the next week death 
will surely come and snatch some away ; 
it may be the speaker, or it may be some 
one who is listening. Why put off the 
question another day ? Why say to the 
Lord Jesus, again to-night, " Go Thy way 
this time, and when I have a more conven- 
ient season I will call for Thee ?" Why 
not let Him come in to-night ? Why not 
open your heart, and say, " King of Glory, 
come in?" He will receive you. 

THREE STEPS TO PERDITION. 

You know there are three steps to the 
lost world ; let me give you their names. 
The first is Neglect. All a man has to do 
is to neglect salvation, and that will take 
him to the lost world. Some people say, 
" What have I done ?" Why, if you mere- 
ly neglect salvation you will be lost. I am 
on a swift river and lying in the bottom of 
my little boat ; all I have to do is to fold 
my arms, and the current will carry me out 
to sea. So all that a man has to do is to 
fold his arms in the current of life, and he 
will drift on and be lost. The second step 
is Refusal. There are many who have got 
on the first step, neglect. If I met you at 
the door and pressed this question on you, 
you would say, " Not to-night, Mr. Moody, 
not to-night." But there are others of you 
who, if I said, " I want you to press into 
the kingdom of God," would politely re- 
fuse : — " I will not become a Christian to- 
night ; I know I ought, but I won't to- 
night." Then the last step is to despise it. 
Some of you have already got on the lower 
round of the ladder. You despise Christ. 
I see some of you looking at me with scorn 
and contempt. You hate Christ, you hate 
Christianity ; you hate the best people on 
earth and the best friends you have got; 
and if I were to offer you the Bible you 
would tear it up and put your foot upon it. 
Oh, despisers ! you will soon be in another 
world. Make haste and repent and turn 
to God. Now, on which step are you, my 
friend — neglecting, or refusing, or despis- 
ing ? Bear in mind that a great many are 
taken off from the first step : they die in 
neglect. And a great many are taken away 
refusing. And a great many are on the 
last step, despising salvation. I wish I 
could settle this question for you. I wish 
I could bleed for you. Won't you come ? 
Everything that is pure and holy and love- 
ly is beckoning us to a world of ^ve and 
peace ; everything that is polluted and vile 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



61 



and hellish and carnal is beckoning us 
down. I set before you life and death ; 
which will you choose ? When Pilate had 
Christ on his hands, he said, " What shall I 
do with Him ?" and the multitude cried 
out, "Away with Him! crucify Him!" 
Young men, is that your language to-night ? 
Do you say, " Away with this Gospel ! 
Away with Christianity ! Away with your 
prayers, your sermons, your Gospel sounds ! 
I do not want Christ ?" Or will you be 
wise and say, " Lord Jesus, I want Thee, I 
need Thee, I will have Thee ?" May God 
bring you to that decision ! 

THE CHILD ANGEL. 

I will tell you an anecdote now, because 
the man of whom the story is told may rep- 
resent many in this audience to-night. A 
few years ago I was attending a Sabbath- 
school convention, in a little town, where a 
man to whom I was a stranger took me into 
his house. It was a warm day and the 
curtains were down, so that the room 
was dark. His wife was in bed, and he 
excused himself because he had some 
matters to attend to. I was left alone. It 
was so dark that I could not read, and I 
walked up and down the room till I felt 
lonely. Presently he came in, and I said, 
" Have you no children ?" I am very fond 
of children, and I thought if he had any I 
could play with them. He said no ; he 
had one, but God had taken her from him ; 
she was in heaven, and he said he was glad 
of it. I said, " Glad that your only child is 
dead ?" " Yes," he said. " How is that ?" 
I asked. " Was she deformed, or was any- 
thing wrong with her?" " No," said he, 
" she was as perfect as could be;" and he 
got up and brought me one of those old 
fashioned daguerreotypes — a portrait of a 
beautiful girl, with golden curls falling 
down her neck, more like an angel than a 
child. I asked how old she was. " Seven." 
" What do you mean by saying you are 
glad she is in heaven?" " Well," said he, 
" I worshiped that child, that child was 
in all my plans, I was making mon£y for 
my child, and every Sunday I spent hours 
with her ; she was the idol of my heart, but 
I did not know it. One day I found my 
child sick. I did not think it was danger- 
ous, but in a few days she died, and I ac- 
cused God of being unjust in sparing the 
families of others and taking away my 
child, and I refused to be reconciled. I 
would have torn God from His throne if I 
could. For three days and nights I 



neither ate, nor drank, nor slept. I was 
almost mad. On the third day I buried 
her, and when I came home, as I walked 
up and down the room, I thought I heard 
the voice of my little one; but then I 
thought, ' No, that voice is hushed forever.' 
Then I thought I heard her little feet com- 
ing towards me, but then I said, ' No, I 
shall never hear those little feet again.' At 
last I threw myself on my bed, and began 
to weep. Nature gave way, and I fell 
asleep. I had a dream. I suppose it was 
a dream ; but it has always seemed to me 
more like a vision. I thought I was cross- 
ing a waste, barren field, and I came to u 
river that looked so cold and dark and 
dreary that I drew back from it ; but, look- 
ing across, I saw the most beautiful land 
my eyes had ever rested upon ; and as I 
gazed I thought that death and sickness 
and disease could never enter there. Then 
I saw a company on the other side, and 
among them my own darling child. She 
came to the bank of the river, and waving 
her little angel hand, said, ' Father, come 
right this way ; it is so beautiful here ;' and 
she beckoned me to the world of light. I 
then went to the water's edge, and thought 
I would plunge in, but it was too deep for 
me — I could not swim. I thought I would 
give anything to cross. I tried to find a 
boat, but there was no ferryman. I looked 
for a bridge, but there was none ; and 
while I was wandering up and down the 
little angel voice came across the stream, 
' Come right this way, father ; it is beauti- 
ful here!' All at once I heard a voice as 
if it came from heaven, saying, ' I am the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man 
cometh unto the Father but by Me.' The 
voice awoke me from sleep. I thought it 
was my God calling me, and that if I 
would ever see my child again I must 
come to God through Jesus Christ. That 
night I knelt beside my bed and gave my- 
self to God. Now I no longer look upon 
my child as sleeping in her grave, but I 
see her with the eye of faith in that beauti- 
ful land, and every night when I lie down 
I hear her sweet voice saying, ' Come right 
this way, father,' and every morning I hear 
her repeating the same words. Now my 
wife is converted. I am superintendent 
of the Sabbath-school, and eight children 
have been converted, and I am trying to 
get as many converted as I can to go with 
me to that beautiful land." Undoubtedly 
I am speaking to some father to-night with 
a lost one in that world. If that child 



62 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



could speak to you, would it not say, 
" Come right this way, father ?" And many 
a young man is here who has a sainted 
mother or sister in heaven. If she could 
now speak from the battlements of heaven, 
would not the words be, " Come right this 
way, my brother," " Come right this way, 
my son " ? Oh, thank God that we have 
all got an elder Brother across the stream. 
The Son of God stands on the banks to- 
night, calling to every one, " Come this 
way, my child." Young man, won't you 
rise and go to your Father to-night ? May 
God call you home, wanderer ! May every 
backslider return and press into the king- 
dom. I beg of you as a friend, do not 
leave this hall to-night until you have 
sought the kingdom of God. Make up 
your mind this night and this hour that 
you will press into the kingdom. 



VI. 

THE NEW BIRTH. 

" Except a man be born again, he cannot see 
the kingdom of God." — John iii. 3. 

Much less inherit it. He can't even 
get a glimpse of the kingdom of God ex- 
cept he be born again. I believe that we 
have the most important subject before us 
to-night that will ever come before us in this 
world. I don't believe there is any truth 
in the whole Bible so important as the 
truth brought out in the third chapter of 
the Gospel of John. 

It is the A B C of God's alphabet. If a 
man is unsound on regeneration, he is un- 
sound on everything. That is really the 
foundation stone; and he must get the 
foundation right. If he don't, what is the 
good of trying to build a house ? Now, 
He says plainly, " Except a man be born 
again." And although regeneration, or the 
n£w birth, is taught so plain in the third 
chapter of John, I don't believe there is 
any truth in the whole Bible that the 
church and the world are so mixed up on, 
and in such great darkness about, as this 
great truth in the third chapter of John. 
There are a great many that are, as it were, 
like the man that saw men as trees walking. 
Many Christians do not seem to be just in 
a mind about this new birth. 

BORN A CHRISTIAN. 

Only this afternoon, as I was in the in- 
quiry-room, a person came in, and I said, 



" Are you a Christian?" "Why," she says, 
" of course I am." " Well," I said, " how 
long have you been one?" " Oh, sir, I was 
born one." " Oh ! indeed, then I am very 
glad to take you by the hand; I congratulate 
you ; you are the first woman I ever met who 
was born a Christian ; you are more fortu- 
nate than others ; they are born children of 
Adam." She hesitated a little, and then 
tried to make out that, because she was 
born in England, she was a Christian. 
There are a great many who have the idea 
that, because they are born in England or a 
Christian country, they have been born of 
the Spirit. Now, in this third chapter of 
John, the new birth is brought out so plain, 
that if any one will read it carefully and 
prayerfully, I think their eyes will soon be 
opened. That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh ; it remains flesh ; and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit, and that remains 
spirit. So, when a man is born of God, he has 
God's nature. When a man is born of his 
parents, he receives their nature, and they 
received the nature of their parents, and 
you can trace it back to Eden. We have 
received the nature of the first Adam, but 
when a man is born of God, or born from 
above, or born of the Spirit — that is the 
way the Holy Ghost puts it in that third 
verse — he receives God's nature, and then 
it is he leaves the life of the flesh for the 
life of the Spirit. 

SATAN GOING TO CHURCH. 

Before I go on I want to say one thing : 
and that is, what this new birth,- or being 
born of the Spirit, is not. A great many 
think they have been born again because 
they go to church. A great many say, 
" Oh, yes, I am a Christian ; I go to church 
every Sabbath." Let me say here that 
there is no one that goes to church so 
regularly in all London as Satan. He is 
always there before the minister, and he is 
the last one out of the church. There is not 
a church in London, or a chapel, but that 
he is a regular attendant of it. The idea 
that he is only down in the slums and lanes 
and alleys of London is a false idea. The 
idea that he is only in public-houses — I 
will confess I think he is there, and that 
he is doing his wo'rk very well — but to 
think that he is only there is a false idea. 
He is wherever the Word is preached ; it 
is his business to be there, and catch away 
the seed. He is here to-night. Some of 
you may go to sleep, but he won't. Some 
of you may not listen to the sermon, but 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



63 



he will. He will be watching, and when 
the seed is just entering into some heart 
he will go and catch it away. May God 
rebuke Satan to-night, and may the Word 
of God fall deep into the hearts of many. 
May many be called to-night. 

A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE BAPTIZED. 

Another class say, " Oh, yes, I am a 
Christian, because I was baptized." Now, 
I want to say here that baptism is one 
thing, and being born again is another. 
Because a person is baptized, you would 
not say that that is new birth. Would 
you call that being born from above ? You 
cannot baptize a man into the kingdom of 
God. Now, bear that in mind. If I could 
save men by baptizing them, you would 
not catch me preaching. I would get 
water and baptize them ; that would be 
the quickest way. It would be no use to 
be praying and pleading for men to flee 
from the wrath of God. But, you can 
never get them into the kingdom of God 
by baptism. Baptism is all right in its 
place. I am not here crying down church 
ordinances; I am talking about the new 
birth, and there are a great many, I believe, 
being deceived on this one point, that be- 
cause they have been baptized at some 
time of their life they have become Chris- 
tians. But that is not new birth ; that is 
not being born from above and of the Spirit. 
Do not let Satan deceive you, my friends, 
on that point, for it is a very important 
truth ; and we want to have every one here 
to - night to understand, and I hope the 
Spirit of God will make plain the difference 
between baptism and conversion, or re- 
generation, or being born of the Spirit, or 
being born again. 

JOINING THE CHURCH. 

There is another class that say, "Oh, 
yes, I became a Christian when I joined 
the church — the day when I united with 
the church." That ain't being born again. 
What is that to do with the new birth, be- 
ing united with the church on earth? 
There are a great many united with the 
church who are on their way to death and 
ruin. A great many have no hope of eter- 
nal life who are members of the church. 
One of the twelve Christ chose to follow 
Him turned out a hypocrite and a traitor ; 
he was not loyal to Christ at heart. My 
friends, don't just build your hope of 
heaven upon some profession of your faith ; 



but bear in mind it is the being born of 
God. Now just let me stop a minute, and 
you just think, and ask yourselves that 
question, " Have I been born again ?' It 
is the most solemn question that will ever 
come before you down here — " Have I 
been born from above ? Have I been born 
of the Spirit?" It ain't making some new 
resolutions. You have made enough of 
them. That ain't the new birth. I never 
met any one who had not made some good 
resolutions in their life. It ain't trying to 
do good. A great many say, " I try to do 
the best I can and I think it will come 
out all right." What is that to do with the 
new birth and the new creation ? It don't 
say to him that tries to do the best he can, 
but to him that believeth or that is born of 
the Spirit ; and " Except a man be born 
again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 

INSTANTANEOUS CONVERSION. 

Now, I believe this birth is instantane- 
ous. I have met a great many people who 
cannot tell the day or the hour of their 
conversion; but there must have been a 
time when they passed from death unto 
life — when they were born of the Spirit. 

There must have been a time when their 
names were written in the Book of Life. 
They may not be conscious of the day, or 
the hour, or the week, or the month, or the 
year ; but, my friends, I beg of you to be 
sure that they have been born of the Spirit 
Don't be deceived upon this one truth, be- 
cause Christ Himself says, " Except a man 
be born again he cannot see the kingdom 
of God." 

As I said before, when I was born of my 
parents I received their nature, I received 
the nature of the flesh ; and I cannot serve 
God in the flesh. ht God is a Spirit, and 
they that worship Him must worship Him 
in spirit and in truth." And before a man 
can worship God he must be born of God ; 
he must be born of the Spirit. Then with 
this new birth, with this new life he can 
serve God. Then the yoke is easy ; then 
the burden is light. A man may as well 
try to fly to the moon as to serve God be- 
fore he has been born of the Spirit. It is 
utterly impossible. The natural man is at 
enmity against God ; his natural heart is 
at war with God ; it always has been, and 
it always will be. And not only that, but 
you cannot make it better. Somebody 
said that God never mends. God creates 
anew ; therefore don't be trying to patch 
up that old Adam nature. God says, " It 



64 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



shall never come into My presence." 
Therefore God has just set it aside. But 
He tells us how we are to come into His 
presence, and how we are to get into His 
kingdom. This is worthy to be borne in 
mind. You cannot educate men into it. 
That is what the world is trying to do. But 
he that climbeth up by some other way than 
the Lord's way the same is a thief and a 
robber. You had better be born into it in 
God's way. 

FOREIGNERS HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN. 

We have a law in America that no man 
shall be President of the United States that 
has not been born on American soil. We 
have a great many Englishmen come to 
America; but I have never heard one com- 
plain about that law. We have a great 
many Germans, Scotchmen, Irishmen, and 
Welshmen, in fact men from all parts of 
the world, who come to America, and yet I 
have never heard one complain about that 
law. They say America has the right to 
say who shall be President. I come 
here to your country, and I do not com- 
plain because you have a Queen to 
reign over you. What right have I 
to complain? Has not England a right 
to say who shall rule it, and who, 
shall be its Queen ? Foreigners have no 
right to interfere. And I would like to ask 
you this question, Has not God a right to 
say who shall come into His kingdom, and 
how we shall come? Now, my friend, 
God tells us here we are to come into His 
kingdom by the new birth. We must be 
born from above, born of the Spirit, and 
then we get a nature that goes out towards 
God. If you take a drunken man, and put 
him on the very pavement of heaven, he 
will not be happy there. The drunkard 
doesn't want heaven. What is he to do 
there ? He has no whiskey to drink there, 
and he has none of his old companions. 
What is he to do ? He would say, " This 
is hell to me. I don't want to sit here." 
A man that cannot spend one Sabbath on 
earth among God's people, what is he to do 
with that eternal Sabbath, with those that 
have washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb ? A man 
must have a spiritual nature before he 
wants to go to heaven. Heaven cannot 
have any attractions to a man until he is 
born out of heaven of the Spirit. 

A WORD FOR THE MORALISTS. 

Now let us go back to this man that 



Christ said these words here to. I often 
rejoice He didn't say this to that woman at 
the well, nor to that woman Mr. Sankey 
has been singing about to-night. If He 
had said to them, people would have said, 
" Oh, that poor woman needs to be con- 
verted; but I am a moralist ; I don't need 
to be converted. Regeneration will do for 
harlots, thieves, and drunkards, but we 
moralists do not need it." But who did 
Christ say it to ? He said it to Nicodemus. 
Who was he ? He belonged to the house 
of bishops. He would have been a bishop 
if he had been here. Nicodemus stood 
very high ; he was one of the church dig- 
nitaries ; he stood as high as any man in 
Jerusalem, except the high priest himself. 
He belonged to the seventy rulers of the 
Jews ; he was a doctor of divinity, and 
taught the law. There is not one word of 
Scripture against him ; he was a man that 
stood out before the whole nation as of 
pure and spotless character. What does 
Christ say to him ? " Except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." I' can see a scowl on his forehead. 
He says, "What do you mean by being 
born again — born from above, born of the 
Spirit? Now I am old, can I a second 
time enter my mother's womb, and be born 
again ? " Jesus saith, " Verily, verily, I say 
unto thee, Except a man be born of water, 
and of the Spirit, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." He didn't take back what 
He had said, but he just repeated it — " Ex- 
cept a man be born again, he cannot see 
the kingdom of God." I can just imagine 
Nicodemus was like tens of thousands of 
men in London to-day. The moment you 
talk to them about regeneration or conver- 
sion, there is a scowl on their forehead. 
They say, "I don't understand it." Of 
course, the natural man don't understand 
spiritual things. It is a matter of revela- 
tion. I hope God will reveal Himself to 
many a soul here to-night. A great many 
men try to investigate and find out God. 
Suppose you spend a little of your time in 
asking God to reveal Himself to you. 

A TALK IN THE SMOKING-ROOM. 

I heard, some time ago, of some commer- 
cial travelers who went to hear a man 
preach. They came back to the hotel, and 
were sitting in the smoking-room, talking, 
and they said the minister did not appeal 
to their reason, and they would not believe 
anything they could not reason out. There 
was an old man sitting there listening, and 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



65 



he said to them, " You say you won't be- 
lieve anything you can't reason out ? " 
" No, we won't." The old man said, " As 
I was coming on the train, yesterday, I 
noticed some sheep and cattle and swine 
and geese, all eating grass. Now, can you 
tell me by what process that same grass 
was turned into feathers, hair, bristles, and 
wool? " " Well, no, we can't just tell you 
that." "Do you believe it is a fact?" 
"Oh, yes, it is a fact." "I thought you 
said you would not believe anything you 
could not reason out ? " " Well, we can't 
help believing that ; that is a fact we see 
before our eyes." "Well," said the old 
man, " I can't help but believe in regenera- 
tion, and a man being converted, although 
I cannot explain how God converted him." 
I have no doubt, if a man spoke about this 
to me 21 years ago, I should have 
said it was all Greek, and that I did not 
understand what the man was talking about. 
There may be a good many in this hall to- 
night wondering what that American is 
talking about. Born again ; born of the 
Spirit ! I do not understand it. But I un- 
derstand it now (and I can call hundreds 
of witnesses here) — why ? Because I have 
been born of the Spirit. 

THE GREAT TEACHER'S ILLUSTRATION. 

Now, the illustration which Christ used 
to Nicodemus was the wind. " The wind 
bloweth where it listeth, and no man know- 
eth whence it cometh nor whither it goeth." 
Now, you cannot see the spirit of God work 
in this audience ; but I hope and pray He 
may be working now in the hearts of many, 
convincing them of sin ! Do you believe 
more than ever that you are a sinner ? Well, 
that is the work of the Holy Ghost. The 
devil never told you you are a sinner ; he 
tries to make you believe you are good 
enough. If you believe to-night that you 
have sinned against God, that is the 
work of the Holy Ghost. He is here 
to-night at work. We cannot see Him, 
but there are a great many who know 
He is here. Suppose I should say I don't 
believe in the wind, and that it must be 
all imagination. I have lived thirty-seven 
years, and have never seen the wind. No 
one ever saw the wind. It is all imagina- 
tion ; it is folly for men to talk about 
the wind. I can just imagine that boy 
there saying, " Why, I know more than 
that man ; I know there is wind, for it 
blew my hat off this very day into the 
mud ; and I have often felt it blowing in 



my face." My friends, you have never felt 
the wind more than I have felt the Spirit 
of God. You have never seen the effects 
of the wind more than I have seen the 
effects of the Spirit of God, and of the 
workings of the Holy Ghost, and there are 
hundreds of witnesses here to-night who 
would testify the same thing. 

AN APPEAL TO THE DRUNKARD. 

It may be that I am talking now to some 
poor drunkard here. When he comes 
into his house, his children listen, and hear 
by the footfall that their father is coming 
home drunk, and the little things run away 
and hide from him as if he was some horrid 
demon. His wife begins to tremble. 
Many a time has that great, strong arm 
been brought down on her weak, defence- 
less body. Many a day has she carried 
about marks from that man's violence. 
He ought to be her protector, support, and 
stay ; but he has become her tormenter. 
His home is like hell upon earth ; there is 
no joy there. There maybe one such here 
to-night who hears the good news that he 
can be born again, and receive a nature 
from heaven, and receive the Spirit of God. 
God can give him power to hurl the infer- 
nal cup from him. God will give him 
grace to trample Satan under his feet, and 
the drunkard will then become a sober 
man. Go to that house three months 
hence, and you will find it neat and clean. 
As you draw near that home you hear 
singing ; not the song of the drunkard ; 
that is gone ; all things have become new. 
He has been born of God, and is singing 
one of the songs of Zion : 

" Rock of ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee." 

Or perhaps he is singing that good old 
hymn that his mother taught him when he 
was a little boy : 

" There is a fountain filled with blood, 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood 
Lose all their guilty stains." 

He has become a child of God, an heir of 
heaven. His children are climbing up his 
knee, and he has his arms round their 
neck. That dark home is now changed 
into a little Bethel on earth. God dwells 
there now. Yes, God has done all that, 
and that is regeneration. May God con- 
vert the drunkard ! I hope many a 
drunkard will be converted to-night. 






66 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



Christians, lift up your hearts for the poor 
drunkards of London. If they try to lead 
a better life, One mighty to save, Christ the 
Lord, will give them the victory ; for, 
strong as driuk may be, His grace is 
stronger. May the Christians make haste 
and tell the glad news to the drunkards of 
London ! 

THE WORTH OF GOOD RESOLVES. 

Then some of you may have been say- 
ing, " I wish Mr. Moody would tell us how 
we are to become Christians ; for he says 
that we cannot be Christians by trying to 
do good and by making new resolutions." 
Many a time you have been at a meeting 
like this, and have resolved to turn over a 
new leaf, and you may now form another 
good resolution. If you do, you will 
break it. I would not give that for all 
your resolutions. What are you going to 
do ? If it is a new birth you are to have, 
you cannot create life. Can you bring life 
to a dead fly ? All the wise men in Lon- 
don cannot do it. God alone is the author 
of life ; and if you have new birth, it must 
be God's work. When the Jubilee Singers 
were in the north of England my family 
went to see them, and my little boy asked 
why they didn't wash the black off their 
faces. I told him it was because they were 
born black. The Ethiopian cannot change 
his skin, nor the leopard his spots. You 
cannot save yourself. There is a man 
dying — can you put new life into him ? 
Or can you raise up a dead body by say- 
ing, " Young man, arise " ? That is the 
work of God. Your souls are dead in 
trespasses and sin. May the Lord Jesus 
Christ speak life. God said, " Let there be 
light ; " and there was light. And if He 
says, " Let there be life, ' there will be life. 

THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCE OF WALES. 

• I imagine some of you will say, " I 
haven't anything to do." Well, you 
haven't. Salvation has been worked out 
for you by another. Many go all round 
the world in search of honor or posses- 
sions. Salvation is worth thousands of 
times more ; but you don't get it that way. 
God has but one price for salvation. Do 
you want to know what it is ? It is with- 
out money and without price. Rowland 
Hill said that most auctioneers found they 
had hard work to get the people up to 
their price, but that he had hard work to 
get people down to his. " The wages of 



sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal 
life." Who will have it to-night ? I say 
to you, young man, will you have that gift 
to-night ? Suppose I was going over Lon- 
don Bridge, and saw a poor, miserable 
beggar, bare-footecl, coatless, hatless, with 
no rags hardly to cover his nakedness, and 
right behind him, only a few yards, was 
the Prince of Wales with a bag of gold, 
and the poor beggar was running away 
from him as if he was running away from a 
demon, and the Prince of Wales wars hal- 
looing, " Oh, beggar, here is a bag of 
gold ! " Why, we should say the beggar 
had gone mad, to be running away from 
the Prince of Wales with the bag of gold. 
Sinner, that is your condition. The 
Prince of Heaven wants to give you eter- 
nal life, and you are running away from 
Him. " The wages of sin is death, but 
the gift of God is eternal life." Then 
you say, " If I have nothing to do, what is 
going to become of me ? If it is not by 
working in earnest, how am I to be saved ?" 

THE CHEAP AND SIMPLE REMEDY. 

It is God's work entirely how you are to 
be saved. I will tell you ; Scripture will 
tell you — that is better. Take the illus- 
tration Christ used to Nicodemus ; you 
could not have a better. He took him to 
the remedy : — " As Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the 
Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever 
believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have eternal life." Now there is the rem- 
edy. How am I to be saved ? -By look- 
ing for life, eternal life ; just by looking. 
It's very cheap, isn't it ? Very simple, isn't 
it ? Little girl, just look away to the Lamb 
of God to-night and be saved. What says 
the great wilderness' preacher ? " Behold 
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the 
sins of the world." You might say the 
whole plan of salvation is in two words — 
Giving ; Receiving : God gives ; I receive. 

MR. MOODY AS AN ARMY CHAPLAIN. 

I remember, after one of our terrible 
battles — I was in the army, tending sol- 
diers — and I had just laid down one night, 
past midnight, to get a little rest, when a 
man came and told me that a wounded 
soldier wanted to see me. I went to the 
dying man ; he called me chaplain, but I 
was not He said, " Chaplain, I wish you 
to help me to die." I said, " I would help 
you to die if I could. I would take you 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



67 



on my shoulders and carry you into the 
kingdom of God if I could ; but I cannot. 
I can tell you of One that can." And I 
told him of Christ being willing to save 
him ; and how Christ left heaven and came 
into the world to seek and to save that 
which was lost. I just quoted promise 
after promise, but all was dark, and it al- 
most seemed as if the shades of eternal 
death were gathering around his soul. I 
could not leave him, and at last I thought 
of this third chapter of John, and I said to 
him, " Look here, I am going to read to 
you now a conversation that Christ had 
with a man that went to Him when he was 
in your state of mind, and inquired what 
he was to do to be saved." I just read 
that conversation to the dying man, and he 
laid there with his eyes rivetted upon me, 
and every word seemed to be going home 
to his heart, which was open to receive the 
truth. When I came along down to the 
verse where it says, " As Moses lifted up 
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must 
the Son of man be lifted up, that whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish, 
but have eternal life," the dying man cried, 
"Stop, sir. Is that there?" "Yes, it is 
all here." Then he said, " Won't you please 
read it to me again?" I read it tjie second 
time. " As Moses lifted up the serpent in 
the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth 
in Him should not perish, but have eternal 
life." The dying man brought his hands 
together, and he said, " Bless God for that. 
Won't you please read it to me again ?" I 
hope you will pardon me for reading it the 
third time, but I want the Spirit of God to 
impress it on your hearts to-night. " As 
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilder- 
ness, even so must the Son of man be lift- 
ed up, that whosoever believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have eternal life." 
I read the next verses : " For God so loved 
the world that He gave His only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
For God sent not His Son into the world 
to condemn the world, but that the world 
through Him might be saved." 

THE DYING SOLDIER. 

I read through the whole chapter, but 
long before the end of it he had closed his 
eyes. He seemed to lose all interest in the 
rest of the chapter, and when I got through 
it his arms were folded on his breast, he 
had a sweet smile on his face ; remorse 



and despair had fled away. His lips were 
quivering, and I leaned over him, and heard 
him faintly whisper from his dying lips, 
" As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must the Son of man 
be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on 
Him should not perish, but have eternal 
life." He opened his eyes, and fixed his 
calm, deathly look on me, and he said, 
" Oh, chaplain, that is enough ; that is all 
I want." And in a few hours he pillowed 
his dying head upon the truth of those 
two verses, and rode away on one of the 
Saviour's chariots, and took his seat in the 
kingdom of God. Oh, sinner, you can be 
saved to-night if you will. Look and live. 
May God help every lost soul here to-night 
to look on the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sins of the world. 



VII. 

A SERMON ON ONE WORD. 

I shall take for my text to-night the 
one word, " Gospel." I do not think there 
is a word in the English language that is 
so little understood in this Christian land 
of England as this very word " Gospel." 
We have heard it from our earliest child- 
hood up. There is not a day, and with 
many of us not an hour during the day, 
but that we hear the word " Gospel." And 
yet I say a partaker of the Gospel is a long 
time before he really knows the meaning of 
the word. It means " good tidings." I 
think it would do us good sometimes 
to get a dictionary and hunt up the 
meaning of some of the words we use 
so often; some of those Bible words, 
such as " Gospel " and " Christ." I think 
it would change our ideas. I think 
this would be a very joyful meeting to- 
night if every one really believed that the 
Gospel is good news. Why, you let a 
man or a boy bring a dispatch into this au- 
dience and hand it to any one here, and if 
that brings good news you can see it im- 
mediately in the man's face ; his face lights 
up when he opens the dispatch. You can 
see he really believes it. And if it is re- 
ally good news, if it brings him the tidings 
of a long-lost boy got or coming home, 
why, if his wife is sitting next to him, he 
passes the dispatch to her ; he wants her to 
have knowledge of it. He does not wait 
for her to ask for it; he does not wait till 
they get home. So when I preach, those 
who really believe the Gospel, if I am near 



68 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



enough to look into their eye, I see their 
face lights up and looks remarkably sharp ; 
but those who do not believe it put on a 
long face, and look as if you had brought 
them a death warrant, or invited them to 
attend a funeral. If you go to hear some 
dull and stupid sermon or lecture, that is 
not the Gospel. 

THE ANGELIC REVIVALISTS. 

The Gospel is good tidings of great joy. 
No better news ever came out of heaven 
than the Gospel. No better news ever 
fell upon the ears of the family of man 
than that Gospel. Hark ! hear those 
shepherds talking to one another after the 
angels had gone away. They believed the 
message, and they were full of joy. You 
can see them on the way now to Bethle- 
hem. They 'said, "Let us go and see 
what has taken place." And what was 
the message that the angels brought to those 
shepherds ? " Behold, I bring you good 
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all 
people. For unto you is born this day 
in the city of David a Saviour." Now, if 
those shepherds had been like a good many 
people at the present time, they would have 
said, " We do not believe it is good news. 
Do not believe it. It is all excitement. 
Those angels want to get up a revival. 
Those angels are trying to excite us. Don't 
you believe them." That is what Satan is 
saying now. " Don't you believe the Gos- 
pel is good news." Because he knows the 
moment a man believes good news, he just 
receives it. I never saw a man in all my 
life that did not like good news. I never 
saw a man in all my travels that did not 
like good news. There is not any one 
here to-night but what likes good news. 
And every man and woman that is under 
the power of the devil does not believe the 
Gospel is good news. The moment you 
are out from under his power and influence 
then you believe it. May God bring you 
out to-night, that the Gospel may sink deep 
into your heart. 

" god's spell." 

It is the best news that ever came to this 
sin-cursed earth. It means "Good spell," 
or in other words, " God's spell." We are 
dead in trespasses and sin, and God wants 
us to be reconciled. It is a Gospel of re- 
conciliation, and God is shouting from the 
heights of glory, " Oh, ye men, I am recon- 
ciled, now be ye reconciled." We have 



glorious news to tell you — God is recon- 
ciled and beseeches His subjects to be re- 
conciled. The great apostle says, "We 
beseech you in Christ's stead, be ye recon- 
ciled." The moment a man believes down 
go his arms of rebellion, and he just be- 
lieves the Gospel. The unequal contro- 
versy is over. A light from Calvary crosses 
his path, and he can walk in unclouded 
sun, if he will. It is the privilege of every 
man and woman in this vast assembly from 
this hour to walk in unclouded sun if they 
will. What has brought darkness into the 
world? Darkness came because man 
would not believe the Gospel that Christ is 
the light of the world. Now I want to 
tell you why I like the Gospel. It is be- 
cause it has been the very best news I have 
ever heard. That is just the reason I like 
to preach it. Because it has done me so 
much good. I do not think a man can 
preach the Gospel until he believes it him- 
self. A man must know it down deep in 
his own heart before he can tell it out ; and 
then he tells it out very poorly. 

poor ambassadors. 

We are very poor ambassadors and mes- 
sengers; but never mind the messenger, 
take hold of the message — that is what you 
want. If a boy brought me good news to- 
night, I would not care about the look of 
the boy ; I would not care whether he was 
black or white, learned or unlearned. The 
message is what would do me good. A 
great many look at the messenger instead 
of the message. Never mind the messen- 
ger. My friends, get hold of the message 
to-night. The Gospel is what saves, and 
what I want now is that you just believe 
the Gospel. 

Paul says in this 15th chapter of the 1st 
Corinthians what the Gospel is. He 
says, "I declare unto you the Gospel." 
And the first thing he states in the decla- 
ration to these Corinthians is this: — 
" Christ died for our sins according to the 
Scriptures." That was the old-fashioned 
Gospel. I hope we never will get away 
from it. I don't want anything but that 
old, old story. Some people have itching 
ears for something new. Bear in mind 
there is no new Gospel. Christ died for 
our sins. If He did not, how are we going 
to get rid of them ? Would you insult the 
Almighty by offering the fruits of this frail 
body to atone for sin ? If Christ did not 
die for our sins, what is going to become 
of our souls ? And then he goes on to tell 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



6 9 



that Christ was buried, and that Christ 
rose again. 

DEATH AND THE REDEEMER. 

That is what he is trying to bring out in 
the 15th chapter of the istbookof Corinth- 
ians. He burst asunder the bands of 
death. Death could not hold Him. I can 
imagine when they laid Him there in Jo- 
seph's sepulchre, if our eyes could have 
been there, we should have seen Death sit- 
ting over that sepulchre, saying, " I have 
Him ; He is my victim. He said He was 
the resurrection and the life. Now I have 
hold of Him in my cold embrace. Look 
at Him. There He is ; He has had to pay 
tribute to me. Some thought He was 
never going to die. Some thought I would 
not get Him. But He is mine." But 
look again ! The glorious morning comes, 
and the Son of man bursts asunder the 
bands of death, and came out of the sepul- 
chre. We do not worship a dead God, but 
a Saviour who still lives. Yes, He rose 
from the grave ; and then they saw Him 
ascend. That is what Paul calls Gospel. 
Not only Christ's death and burial, but 
they saw Him ascend into heaven. He 
went up and took His seat at the right 
hand of God, and He will come back again. 
The Gospel consists of five things — Christ's 
death, burial, resurrection, ascension ; and 
" I will come again," says He. Thanks be 
to God, He is coming back by-and-by. 
He will come and take the kingdom ; He 
will sway His sceptre from the rivers to 
the ends of the earth by-and-by. A little 
while and He shall rule and reign. Let us 
lift up our heads and rejoice that the time 
of our redemption draweth near. 

Christ's death the gospel. 

Let us get back to the simple Gospel — 
Christ died for our sins. We must know 
Christ at Calvary first, as our Substitute, as 
our Redeemer ; and the moment we accept 
of Him as our Saviour and our Redeemer, 
then it is that we become partakers of the 
Gospel. The moment I believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ as my Substitute, as my 
Saviour, that moment I get light and 
peace. To-night I know some people say, 
" Oh, it is not Christ's death ; it is Christ's 
life. Do not be preaching so much about 
the death of Christ; preach about His 
life." My friends, that never will save 
any one. Paul says, " I declare unto you 
the Gospel. Christ died "—not Christ 



lived — " Christ died for our sins, who His 
own self bare our sins in His own body, on 
the tree." Now, when I accept of Christ 
as my Saviour, as my Substitute, then I am 
justified from all things which I could not 
be by the law of Moses. 

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 

As I was going to say a few minutes ago, 
the reason I like the Gospel is that it has 
taken out of my path the worst enemies I 
ever had. My mind rolls back to twenty 
years ago, before I was converted, and I 
think very often how dark it used to seem 
at times as I thought of the future. There 
was death — what a terrible enemy it 
seemed ! I was brought up in a little 
village in New England. It was the cus- 
tom there when a person was buried to 
toll out the age of the man at his funeral. 
I used to count the strokes of the bell. 
Death never entered that village and tore 
away one of the inhabitants, but I always 
used to count the tolling of the bell. 
Sometimes it would be away up to seventy, 
or between seventy and eighty — beyond 
the life allotted to man, when man seemed 
living on borrowed time when cut off. 
Sometimes it would be clear down in the 
teens, and childhood, and death would 
take away one of my own age. It used to 
make a solemn impression on me. I used 
to be a great coward. When it comes to 
death some men say, " I do not fear it." I 
feared it, and felt terribly afraid, when I 
thought of the cold hand of death feeling 
for the cords of life ; and being launched 
out to eternity, to go to an unknown world. 
I used to have terrible thoughts of God ; 
but they are all gone now. Death has 
lost its sting. And as I go on through 
the world I can shout now, when the bell 
is tolling, " Oh, death, where is thy sting?" 
And I hear a voice come rolling down from 
Calvary, " Buried in the bosom of the Son 
of God." He just robbed death of its 
sting. He just took the sting of death 
into His own bosom. And if you take a 
wasp, and just take the sting out of that 
wasp, you will not be afraid of it any more 
than you would of a little fly. The sting 
has been taken out. And you need not be 
afraid if you are in Christ. Christ died for 
your sin. The penalty, the wages of sin is 
death. Christ received the wages on Cal- 
vary, and therefore there is no condemna- 
tion. All that death can get now is this 
old Adam. I do not care how quickly I 
get rid of it. I will get a better body, a 



7o 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



resurrected body, a glorified body, a body 
much better than this. Yes, my friends, 
u To die," says the apostle, " is gain." 

THE FEAR OF DEATH. 

If a man is in Christ, let death come. 
^Suppose death should come stealing up 
into this pulpit, and should lay his cold, icy 
hand upon my heart, and it should cease 
to throb ; I should rise to another world, 
and should be present with the King. I 
should be absent from the body, but present 
with the Lord. That is not bad news. 
There is no use in trying to conceal it, 
death is an enemy to a man's rest. What 
a glorious thought to think that when you 
die you will sink into the arms of Jesus, 
and that He will carry you away to yon 
world of light ! A little while longer here, 
a few more tears, and then you can gain an 
unbroken rest in yon world of light. The 
Gospel turns that enemy into a friend, 
and you even shout for death. Well, 
then, I used to go and look into the cold, 
silent grave, and I used to think of 
that terrible hour when I would have to 
be laid down in the grave, and this 
body would be eaten up with the worm. 
But now the grave has lost its terror and 
gloom ; I can go and look down into the 
grave and shout over it, and cry out, " Oh, 
grave, where is thy victory ? " And I hear 
a shout coming up from the grave ; it is the 
shout of the Conqueror, of Him who has 
been down and measured the depth of it, 
of my Lord and Saviour : " Because I live, 
you shall live also." Yes, the grave has 
lost its victory. The grave has no terror 
to the man in Christ Jesus. The Gospel 
takes that enemy out of the way. 

SIN PUT AWAY. 

And then there was the terrible name of 
sin. I thought all my sins would be blazed 
out before the great white throne ; that 
every sin committed in childhood and in 
secret, and every secret thought, and every 
evil desire would be just blazed out before 
the assembled universe ; that everything 
done in the dark would be brought to light. 
But thanks be to God, the Gospel tells me 
my sins are all put away in Christ. Out of 
love to my soul, He has taken all my sins, 
and cast them behind His back. That is a 
safe place to have sin, behind God's back. 
God never turns back ; He always marches 
onward. He will never see your sins if 
they are behind His back. That is one of 



His own illustrations. Out of love to my 
soul, He has taken all my sins upon Him. 
Not a part. He takes them all out of the 
way.^ There is no condemnation to him 
that is in Christ Jesus. You may just pile 
up your sins till they rise up like a dark 
mountain, and then multiply them by ten 
thousand for those you cannot think of; 
and after you have tried to enumerate all 
the sins you have ever committed, just let 
me bring one verse in, and then that moun- 
tain will melt away : " The blood of Jesus 
Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." 
The blood covers the sin. 

WHAT GOD CANNOT DO. 

In Ireland, some time ago, a teacher 
asked a little boy if there was anything that 
God could not do ; and the little fellow 
said, " Yes ; He cannot see my sins through 
the blood of Christ." That is just what 
He cannot do. The blood covers them.. 

Is it not good news to get rid of your 
sin? You come here a sinner, and if you 
believe the Gospel your sins are taken 
away. " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved." You shall be 
justified from all things ; which you could 
not by the law of Moses. By believing, or 
by receiving the Gospel, Christ becomes 
yours. Only think, young man ; say, think 
of it. You just are invited to accept of the 
Gospel. You are invited to make an ex- 
change ; to get rid of all your sins, and to 
take Christ in the place of them, Is not 
thai wonderful ? What a foolish young 
man you will be not to make the. bargain. 
The Lord says, " I will take your sins, and 
give you Myself in the place of them." 
But a great many say, " No " ; and just hug 
the sin to their bosom. May God help you 
to come up," sinner, to-night, and receive 
the Lord Jesus Christ as your way, your 
truth, and your life ! 

THE FEAR OF JUDGMENT. 

There is another name which used to 
haunt me a great deal — the great Judgment 
Day. I used to think that was a terrible 
day when I should be summoned before 
God, and could not tell till then whether I 
should have a seat on His right hand or 
on His left. Until I stood before the great 
white throne of judgment I could not tell 
whether I should hear the voice of God 
saying, " Depart from Me, ye cursed," or 
whether God would say, " Enter thou into 
the joy of the Lord." But the Gospel tells 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



7i 



me that question is already settled : " There 
is now no condemnation to him that is in 
Christ Jesus." Listen to this verse : "Veri- 
ly, verily ; " and when you see that word 
u Verily, verily " in Scripture, you may 
know there is something very important 
coming. It means, " Mind what I tell 
you," or "truly, truly." " Truly, truly I 
say unto you, he that heareth My Word, 
and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath " 
— h-a-t-h, hath ; lay hold of that little word 
hath to-night—" hath eternal life, and shall 
not come into condemnation ; " that means 
into judgment — " but is passed from death 
unto life." Well, now, I am not coming in- 
to judgment for sin. The question has 
been settled, because Christ was judged for 
me, and died in my stead, and I go free. 
Is not that good news ? 

A PRAYER FOR MR. MOODY. 

Why, I heard of a man praying the other 
day that I might lay hold of eternal life. I 
could not have said Amen to that. I laid 
hold of eternal life nineteen years ago, 
when I was converted. What is the gift 
of God, if it is not eternal life ? And that 
is what God wants to give to everyone in this 
hall to-night, and it is the greatest gift that 
can be bestowed on anyone down here in 
this dark world. If an angel just came 
straight from the throne of God onto this 
platform, and proclaimed to this vast as- 
sembly that God had sent him here to offer 
to this audience any one thing they might 
ask, that each one should have his own 
petition granted — what would be the cry 
in this audience ? There would be but one 
cry coming up from you, and the shout 
would make heaven ring : " Eternal life ! 
eternal life ! " Everything would float 
away into the dim past. There is not any- 
thing a man values more than his life. Let 
a man worth a million sterling be on a 
wrecked vessel, and if he could just save 
his life for six months by giving that mil- 
lion, he would give it in an instant. There 
is life without end. The gift of God is 
eternal life ; and is it not one of the greatest 
marvels that men have to stand and plead, 
and pray men to take this gift ? May God 
help you to take it now. Do not listen to 
Satan any longer. Reach out the hand of 
faith and take it now. Young man, " Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved." Trust Him to save you 
now, and then there will be no condemna- 
tion. Death will have lost his sting, 
the grave and its victory will be safe out of 



the way, and the judgment will be passed 
for you. 

A JUDGMENT OF MERCY. 

" Oh," but do you say, " what do you 
make out of that passage in Corinthians 
which says, ' Every man must give an ac- 
count of the deeds done in his body ' ? " 
But that is a judgment of mercy, it is not a 
judgment of sin; that period is past to the 
believer. Oh, my friends, to-night I beg of 
you, do not go out of this hall unsaved. 
Believe the Gospel to-night. Lay hold of 
eternal life while God is offering it to you. 
Be reconciled to-night. Take your stand 
hard by the cross, and you are saved for 
time and eternity. I am told that at Rome, 
if you go up a few steps on your hands and 
knees, that is nine years out of purgatory. 
If you take one step now you are out of 
purgatory for time and eternity. You used 
to have two steps into glory^ — out of self 
into Christ, out of Christ into glory. But 
there is a shorter way now with only one 
step — out of self into glory, and you are 
saved. May God help you to take the 
step now! Flee, my friends, to-night to 
Calvary, and get under the shadow of the 
cross. 

THE FIRE ON THE PRAIRIE. 

Out in our western country in the 
autumn, when men go hunting, and there 
has not been for months any rain, some- 
times the prairie grass catches fire, and 
there comes up a very strong wind, and the 
flames just roll along twenty feet high over 
that western desert, and go at the rate of 
thirty or forty miles an hour, consuming 
man and beast. When the frontiersmen 
see it coming, what do they do ? They 
know they cannot run as fast as the fire can 
run. Not the fleetest horse can escape 
from that fire. They just take a match and 
light the grass around them and let the 
flames sweep, and then they get into the 
burnt district and stand safe. They hear 
the flames roar as they come along ; they 
see death coming towards them ; but they 
do not fear, they do not tremble, because 
the fire has peaced over the place where 
they are, and there is no danger. There is 
nothing for the fire to burn. There is 
one mountain peak that the wrath of God 
has swept over ; that is Mount Calvary, 
and that fire spent its fury upon the bosom 
of the Son of God. Take your stand here 
by the cross, and you will be safe for time 



72 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



and eternity. Escape for your life, young 
man and young lady ; flee to yon moun- 
tain, and you are saved this very minute. 
Oh, may God bring you to Calvary to- 
night, under the shadow of the cross to- 
night ! Then let death and the grave 
come ! You will shout, " Glory to God in 
the highest ! " We will laugh at death and 
glory in the grave, and just know this : that 
we are safe, sheltered by the precious blood 
of the Lamb. There is no condemnation 
to him that is in Christ Jesus. God wants 
to pardon every one here to-night- God 
is coming down and beseeching you to take 
the pardon. Every man and woman here 
has broken the law, and he that has broken 
the least of the laws is guilty of all. I am 
sure I am not talking to one man or woman 
in this audience to-night who can say they 
have not broken the law. 

A WORD THE DEVIL FEARS. 

You have all sinned and come short of 
the glory of God, but God comes and says, 
" I will pardon you. Come, now, and let 
us reason together." " Now " is one of the 
words of the Bible the devil is afraid of. 
He says, " Do not be in a hurry ; there is 
plenty of time ; do not be good now." He 
knows the influence of that word " now." 
" To-morrow " is the devil's word. The 
Lord's word is " now." God says, " Come, 
now, and let us reason together. Though 
your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white 
as snow. Though they be red as crimson, 
I will make them as wool." Scarlet and 
crimson are two fast colors ; you would not 
get the color out without destroying the 
garment. God says, " Though your sins 
are as scarlet and crimson, I will make 
them as wool and snow. I will do it." 
That is the way God reasons. He puts the 
pardon in the face of the sinner the first 
thing. That is a queer way of reasoning, 
but God's thoughts are not our thoughts ; 
and so, my friends, to-night, if you want to 
be saved, the Lord says He will pardon 
you. 

THE GOVERNOR IN THE CONDEMNED CELL. 

A few years ago, when Pennsylvania had 
a Christian Governor, there was a young 
man down in one of the counties who was 
arrested for murder. He was brought be- 
fore the Court, tried, found guilty, and 
sentenced to death. His friends thought 
there would be no trouble in getting a 
reprieve or pardon. Because the Governor 



was a Christian man they thought he would 
not sign the death warrant. But he signed 
it. They called on the Governor and begged 
of him to pardon the young man. But the 
Governor said, " No ; the law must take its 
course, and the man must die." I think the 
mother of the young man called on the Gov- 
ernor and plead with him ; but the Governor 
stood firm and said, "No ; the man must die. " 
A few days before the man was executed, 
the Governor took the train to the county 
where the man was imprisoned. He went 
to the sheriff of the county and said to him, 
" I wish you to take me to that man's cell, 
and leave me alone with him a little while ; 
and do not tell him who I am till I 
am gone." The Governor went to the 
prison and talked to the young man about 
his soul, and told him that although he was 
condemned by man to be executed, God 
would have mercy upon him and save him, 
if he would accept pardon from God. He 
preached Christ, and told him how Christ 
came to seek and to save sinners ; and, 
having explained as he best knew how the 
plan of salvation, he got down and prayed, 
and after praying he shook hands with him 
and bade him farewell. Some time after 
the sheriff passed by the condemned man's 
cell, and he called him to the door of the 
cell, and said, " Who was that man that 
talked and prayed with me so kindly?" 
The sheriff said, " That was Governor Pol- 
lock." The man turned deadly pale, and 
he threw up both his hands and said, " Was 
that Governor Pollock ? was that kind- 
hearted man the Governor? Oh, sheriff, 
why did you not tell me ? If I had known 
that was the Governor I would have fell at 
his feet and asked for pardon ; I would 
have plead for pardon and for my life. Oh, 
sir, the Governor has been here, and I did 
not know it." Sinner, I have got good 
news to tell you. There is One greater 
than the Governor here to-night, and He 
wants to pardon every one. He does not 
want you to go out from here to-night con- 
demned. He wants to bring you from 
under condemnation ; to pardon every soul 
here. Will you have the pardon, or will 
you despise the gift of God ? Will you 
despise the mercy of God and His offer of 
mercy ? Oh, this night, while God is be- 
seeching you to be reconciled, let me join 
with your praying mother, with your pray- 
ing father, with your godly minister, with 
your Sabbath-school teacher, and all your 
praying friends ; let me join my voice with 
theirs to plead with you to-night to be re- 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



73 



conciled. Make up your mind now, while 
I am speaking, that you will not cross your 
threshold until you are reconciled, and 
there will be joy in heaven to-night over 
your decision. Oh, may God bring hun- 
dreds to a decision to-night. May Chris- 
tians keep praying for this one thing. Let 
there be a united prayer to God now, that 
thousands may be reconciled to God to- 
night, and spend eternity in yon world of 
light. 

An Englishman told me some time ago 

A LITTLE STORY OF RECONCILIATION, 

which illustrates this truth. We want to 
preach the Gospel of reconciliation; the 
good news that God is reconciled. God 
does not say He can do, but He has done 
it. You must accept what He has done. 
The story is this : — There was an English- 
man who had an only son ; .and only sons 
are often petted, and humored, and ruined. 
This boy became very headstrong, and 
very often he and his father had trouble. 
One day they had a quarrel, and the father 
was very angry, and so was the son ; and 
the father said he wished the boy would 
leave home and never come back. The 
boy said he would go, and would not come 
into his father's house again till he sent for 
him. The father said he would never send 
for him. Well, away went the boy. But 
when a father gives up a boy, a mother 
does not. You mothers will understand 
that, but the fathers may not. You know 
there is no love on earth so strong as a 
mother's love. A great many things may 
separate a man and his wife ; a great many 
things may separate a father from a son ; 
but there is nothing in the wide world that 
can ever separate a true mother from her 
child. To be sure, there are some mothers 
that have drunk so much liquor, that they 
have drunk up all their affection. But I 
am talking about a true mother ; and she 
would not cast off her boy. 

THE MOTHER AND THE MURDERER. 

We had a case in our country of a young 
man who- had committed murder. His 
father would have nothing to do with him, 
but his mother went down into his cell 
every day. When the trial came on, the 
papers tried to write him down, and seemed 
determined that the boy should be put to 
death. Because he was the son of a 
wealthy man, they thought the judges and 
the courts would have mercy upon him ; 
and there was a hissing, as it were, going 



up from all America against that young 
man. 

But that mother was not ashamed to be 
seen in the courts with him. She took her 
seat as near him as she could. She would 
have taken the boy's place, and laid down 
her life to have saved her boy. Look at a 
mother watching her sick child ; she would 
take the disease out of the child into her 
own bosom if she could. When the boy 
was found guilty, no one seemed to feel the 
blow as that mother. A mother would, 
perhaps, not go to see that worthless boy 
executed ; but if she could get that body 
she would cover it with kisses ; she would 
go to the grave and cover it with flowers ; 
she would cherish the memory of that boy 
as long as she lives. Why, a mother's love 
is stronger than death ; death cannot tear 
down a mother's love. But, my friends, a 
mother's love is not anything to be com- 
pared with God's love. You never saw a 
mother that loved her child as God loves 
you sinners. God loves you thousands of 
times more than your mother. God loves 
you more than you love yourselves. He 
has His heart set upon you, and wants to 
save and bless you. 

Well, the mother of the boy who had 
quarrelled with his father began to write 
and plead to the boy to write to his father 
first, and his father would forgive him ; but 
the boy said, " I will never go home till 
father asks me." She plead to the father, 
but the father said, " No, I will never ask 
him." 

THE MOTHER'S DYING WISH. 

At last the mother came down to her sick 
bed, broken-hearted, and when she was 
given up by the physicians to die, the hus- 
band, anxious to gratify her last wish, 
wanted to know if there was not anything 
he could do for her before she died. The 
mother gave him a look; he well knew 
what it meant. Then she said, "Yes, 
there is one thing you can do. You can 
send for my boy. That is the only wish 
on earth you can gratify. If you do not 
pity him and love him when I am dead 
and gone, who will?" "Well," said the 
father, " I will send word to him that you 
want to see him." " No," she says, "you 
know he will not come for me. If ever I 
see him you must send for him." At last 
the father went to his office and wrote a 
dispatch in his own name, asking the boy 
to come home. As soon as he got the in- 
vitation from his father he started off to 



74 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



see his dying mother. When he opened 
the door to go in he found his mother 
dying and his father by the bedside. The 
father heard the door open, and saw the 
boy, but instead of going to meet him he 
went to another part of the room, and re- 
fused to speak to him. His mother seized 
his hand — how she had longed to press it ! 
She kissed him, and then said, " Now, my 
son, just speak to your father. You speak 
first, and it will all be over." But the boy 
said, " No, mother, I will not speak to him 
until he speaks to me." She took her 
husband's hand in one hand and the boy's 
in the other, and spent her dying moments 
and strength in trying to bring about a re- 
conciliation. Just as she was expiring, she 
could not speak, so she put the hand of the 
wayward boy into the hand of the father, 
and passed away. The boy looked at the 
mother, and the father at the wife, and at 
last the father's heart broke, and he opened 
his arms, and took that boy to his bosom, 
and by that body they were reconciled. 
Sinner, that is only a faint type, a poor il- 
lustration, because God is not angry with 
you. God gives you Christ, and I bring 
you to-night to the dead body of Christ. I 
ask you to look at the wounds in His hands 
and feet, and the wound in His side. My 
friends, gaze upon His five wounds. And 
I ask you, " Will you not be reconciled ?" 
When He left heaven, He went clear down 
to the manger that He might get hold of 
the vilest sinner, and put the hand of the 
wayward prodigal into that of the Father, 
and He died that you and I might be re- 
conciled. If you take my advice you will 
not go out of this hall to-night until you 
are reconciled. " Be ye reconciled." Oh, 
this Gospel of reconciliation ! My friends, 
come home to-night. Your father wants 
you to come home to-night. Say as the 
prodigal did of old, " I will arise and go 
to my father," and there will be joy in 
heaven. 



VIII. 

THE MASTER'S PARTING COMMIS- 
SION. 

"And He said unto them, Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to ever) r creature. 
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, 
but he that believeth not shall be damned," — 
Mark xvi. 15, 16. 

Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
Gospel to every creature. I wish you just 
to mark that text. It does not say, " Go 



ye into all the world, and preach the Gos- 
pel to the elect;" it does not say, " Go ye 
into all the world, and preach the Gospel 
to the rich," or to the learned, or to the un- 
learned ; but " Go ye into all the world, 
and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
And I am one of those men that believe 
that God means what He says ; that when 
God says, " Go and preach to every crea- 
ture," He means that every man shall be 
invited to the Gospel feast, and that none 
need to be excluded, or that none need to 
stay away. And if a man does not come 
it will be because he is not willing to ac- 
cept of the invitation. As Christ says, 
" Ye will not come unto Me that ye might 
have Me." It is not because men cannot 
come ; it is because they will not come. 

SATAN HINDERING. 

There are a few boys who want to go out, 
disturbing the meeting, but if the friends 
will just be kind enough to give me their 
attention we will go back to the text. The 
devil does not want you to hear the text. 
That is just what gives life, the Word of 
God. The text is worth more than the 
sermon. Hear the proclamation, " Go ye 
into all the world, and preach the Gospel 
to every creature. He that believeth and 
is baptized shall be saved ; but he that be- 
lieveth not shall be damned." That is 
plain language, is it not ? It is so plain, 
that there is not any one here need mis- 
understand it ; and, as I said before, 
Christ means what He says. He sends out 
His messengers to proclaim the .glad tid- 
ings. Gethsemane is behind, the empty 
grave is behind ; Calvary, in all its hor- 
rors, is now past ; He is on His way back 
home to take His seat at the right hand of 
the Father. His little church is gathered 
round Him — a little handful of men ; and 
He breathes upon them the Holy Ghost ; 
and now this is His parting commission, 
" Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
Gospel to every creature." I thank God 
for that text ; I thank God that the com- 
mission is for us to proclaim it to every 
creature, and that every person in this wide, 
wide world is invited . to the Gospel feast. 

THE PROMISE FOR ALL. 

Every one of God's proclamations are 
connected with that word "whosoever." 
I think it was Richard Baxter said he 
thanked God for that " whosoever." 
He would a good deal rather have 
that word " whosoever " than Richard 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



75 



Baxter ; for if it was Richard Baxter, he 
should have thought it was some other 
Richard Baxter who had lived and died be- 
fore him; but "whosoever" he knew 
meant him. I heard of a woman once that 
thought there was no promise in the Bible 
for her; she thought the promises were 
for some one else, not for her. There are 
a good many of these people in the world. 
They think it is too good to be true that 
they can be saved for nothing. This 
woman one time got a letter, and when she 
opened it she found it was not for her at 
all ; it was sent to another woman, or it 
was meant for another woman that had her 
name ; and she had her eyes opened to the 
fact that if she should find some promise in 
the Bible directed to her, she would not 
know whether it meant her or some one 
else that bore her name. But you know 
the word " whosoever " means every one 
in this house ; that boy down there, that 
grey-haired man, and that young man right 
in the blush of youth. " Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every 
creature." It does not leave out one. Go 
and proclaim the glad tidings to every man. 

PARDON FOR THE PRISONERS I AN OHIO 
STORY. 

I was in Ohio a few years ago, and was 
invited to preach in the State prison. 
Eleven hundred convicts were brought into 
the chapel, and all sat in front of me. Af- 
ter I had got through the preaching, the 
chaplain said to me : " Moody, I want to 
tell you of a scene which occurred in this 
room. A few years ago, our commission- 
ers went to the Governor of the State, and 
got him to promise that he would pardon 
five men for good behavior. The Governor 
consented, with this understanding — that 
the record was to be kept in secret, and 
that at the end of six months the five men 
highest on the roll should receive a pardon, 
regardless of who or what they were ; if 
they were there for life they should receive 
a pardon. At the end of six months the 
prisoners were all brought into the same 
chapel where I had been preaching ; and 
the commissioners came up, and the presi- 
dent of the commissioners stood upon the 
platform, and put his hand in his pocket, 
and brought out some papers, and said, ' I 
hold in my hand pardons for five men.' " 
And the chaplain told me he never wit- 
nessed anything on earth like it. Every 
man was as still as death; many were 



deadly pale, and the suspense was some- 
thing awful. The commissioner went on 
to tell them how they had got the pardon ; 
but the chaplain said to the commissioner, 
" Before you make your speech, read out 
the names. This suspense is awful." So 
he read out the first name, " Reuben John- 
son will come and get his pardon ;" and 
he held it out, but no one came forward. He 
said to the Governor, " Are all the prisoners 
here ?" The Governor told him they were 
all there. Then he said again, " Reuben 
Johnson will come and get his pardon. It 
is signed and sealed by the Governor. He 
is a free man." The chaplain told me he 
looked right down where Reuben was, and 
he was looking all round to see the fortu- 
nate man who had got his pardon. Finally 
the chaplain caught his eye, and he said, 
"Reuben, you are the man." Reuben 
turned round and looked behind him to 
see where Reuben was. The chaplain 
said the second time, " Reuben, you are 
the man," and the second time he looked 
round, thinking it must be some other 
Reuben. Now, men do not believe the 
Gospel is for them. They think it is too 
good, and pass it over their shoulders to 
the next man. But you are the man to- 
night. This boy, this grey-haired man, 
this reporter, and every creature are all 
invited. Well, the chaplain could see 
where Reuben was, and he had to say three 
times, " Reuben, come and get your par- 
don." At last the old man got up and 
came along down the hall, trembling from 
head to foot, and when he got the pardon 
he looked at it and went back to his seat 
and buried his face in his hands, and the 
prisoners heard him w T eep to think he was 
a free man. When the prisoners got into 
the ranks to go back to the cells Beuben 
got into the ranks too, and the chaplain 
had to call to him, " Reuben, get out of 
the ranks ; you are a free man, you are no 
longer a prisoner." And Reuben stepped 
out of the ranks. That is the way men 
make out pardons. They make out par- 
dons for good character or good behavior. 
But God makes out pardons for men that 
have not got any character, and who have 
been very, very bad. He has got a par- 
don for every sinner in London if he will 
take it. I do not care who he is or what he 
is like. He may be the greatest libertine 
that ever walked the streets of London, or 
the greatest blackguard that ever lived, or 
the greatest drunkard, or thief, or vaga- 
bond ; but I come to-night with glad tid- 



7 6 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



ings, and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture, " and whosoever will, let him take the 
water of life freely." Every man is invited. 

A GLASGOW LADY ANSWERED. 

A lady came to me in Glasgow, and said, 
" Mr. Moody, you are always saying, ' Take, 
take, take.' Is there any place in the Bible 
where it says, ' Take,' or is it only a word 
you use? I have been looking for it in the 
Bible, but cannot find it." I said, "It is 
almost the last word in the Bible. 'And 
the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And 
let him that heareth say, Come. And let 
him that is athirst come. And whoso- 
ever will, let him take the water of life 
freely.'" God says, "Let him take." 
Who can stop him if God says " Take ?" 
All the devils in hell cannot stop 
a poor soul from taking if God says 
"Take." All the powers on earth can- 
not hinder him. That little boy can 
come, and all the powers infernal and 
all the powers in the world cannot 
hinder him. God says to-night you may 
take the water of life freely. It is offered 
free to every one. Every one can be saved 
if they will. 

ANECDOTE OF DR. WILLIAM ARNOT. 

When the Rev. Mr. Arnot, that is now 
in Edinburgh, was pastor of a church in 
Glasgow, he heard of a woman that he 
knew being in trouble. She could not pay 
her debts and she could not pay her rent ; 
so he went round to her house, thinking 
he would help her. He knocked at the 
door, and listened, and thought he heard 
some one inside; so he knocked again, but 
no one came. He knocked the third time 
very loud and listened, but did not hear 
any one ; all was still. After waiting some 
time, he made a great noise, and at last 
left the house. Some few days after, he 
met the woman in the street, and he said 
to her, " I was round at your house the 
other day. I heard you were in trouble, 
and could not pay your rent, and I went 
to help you." The woman said, "Was 
that you ? I was in the house all the time, 
but I thought it was the landlord come for 
the rent, and as I had not got the money, 
I kept the door locked." That woman 
represents a sinner. A sinner thinks God 
is coming to demand something. Instead 
of that, God comes to give and to bless. 
Christ comes to pay the debt. Christ 
comes to pay the rent. You all owe 



God a debt you cannot pay; and the 
Gospel is that Christ comes and offers to 
pay it for you. You had better pull back 
the bolt and let Him in to-night. 

A DUBLIN DOOR AND THE SINNER'S HEART. 

When we were in Dublin, I went out 
one morning to an early meeting, and I 
found the servants had not opened the 
front door. So I pulled back a bolt, but 
I could not get the door open. Then I 
turned a key, but the door would not open. 
Then I found there was another bolt at 
the top, then I found there was another bolt 
at the bottom. Still the door would not 
open. Then I found there was a bar, and 
then I found a night-lock. I found there 
were five or six different fastenings. I am 
afraid that door represents every sinner's 
heart. The door of his heart is double- 
locked, double-bolted, and double-barred. 
Oh, my friends, pull back the bolts to-night, 
and let the King of glory in ! He wants 
to bless you ; He wants to pay the debt ; 
He wants to cancel the debt ; He wants 
you to be reconciled ; He wants you to be 
saved. He does not wish the death of 
any, but that all may turn unto Him and 
live. What said the angels to those shep- 
herds on the plains of Bethlehem ? " Be- 
hold, I bring unto you good tidings of great 
joy, which shall be to all people. For 
unto you is born this day, in the city of 
David, a Saviour." Now, I contend that 
men can hear no better news than that — 
that a Saviour has been given, and that 
God wants to save men ; not that men 
shall be lost, not that men shall perish, but 
that a Saviour has been given to save us 
from our sins. Christ did not come into 
the world to condemn the world, but that 
the world through Him might be saved. 
Look at Him going back to Nazareth ; 
what did He do when He turned into the 
synagogue one Sabbath ? He opened the 
book at the place where it is written, " The 
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me ; because 
He hath anointed Me to preach the Gos- 
pel to the poor ; He hath sent Me to heal 
the broken -hearted." My friends, think 
of the broken hearts in London ; and 
Christ says He is come to heal the broken- 
hearted. " He hath sent Me to heal the 
broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the 
captive." Think, you poor drunkards in 
London, slaves to the infernal cup, slaves 
to strong drink. I bring you good news 
to-night. The Son of God can set your 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



77 



soul free, and can make you free men. He 
says : " He hath sent Me to proclaim lib- 
erty to the captive, sight to the blind, lib- 
erty to them that are bruised, and to pro- 
claim the acceptable year of the Lord." 
Is not that good news ? Christ was anoint- 
ed for that purpose. God sent Him to 
proclaim the glad tidings. I would to 
God that every man in this Vast assembly 
would believe the Gospel and be saved ! 
Oh, that you would just receive the Lord 
Jesus as your way, your truth, and your 
life. All you have to do is just to take 
Him. 

ALL THE SINNER HAS TO DO. 

This afternoon in the inquiry-room there 
were a great many that came up to in- 
quire what they must do to be saved. A 
young lady among the number said to me, 
u Mr. Moody, I want to be saved. I wish 
you would tell me how." The tears 
trickled down her cheeks, and she said, 
" You do not know how I want to 
be saved!" I said, "My friend, you 
would know how to take a gift, would not 
you ? If I offered you my Bible, you 
would know how to take it, would not 
you ?" " Yes, sir," she said, " I should." 
" Salvation is a gift, and just as you would 
take a present, you take God's present. 
And God's present to you is His Son from 
heaven. You just receive Him." She 
said, " Mr. Moody, is that all I have got to 
do ?" I said, " Yes, that is all you can do. 
You receive Him first." " But," said she, 
"have not I to ask for Him?" I said, 
" You need not do it. What is the use of 
asking for what God is offering?" Suppose 
I say to this boy heVe, " Look here, I want 
to give you my Bible," and the boy says, 
" I wish you would make me a present of 
the Bible. Will you give it me?" And I 
say, " Take it, take it," and he keeps asking 
for it. Now, God is behind every sinner 
offering salvation. You have nothing to 
do but to take it. Who will take salvation 
as a gift to-night % 

HELPING HIMSELF IN THE ORCHARD. 

I was out on the Pacific coast in California, 
two or three years ago, and I was the guest 
of a man that had a large vineyard and a 
large orchard. One day he said to me, 
" Moody, while you are my guest, I want 
you to make yourself perfectly happy, and 
if there is anything in the orchard or in the 
vineyard you would like, help yourself." 



Well, when 1 wanted an orange, I did not 
go to an orange-tree and pray the oranges 
to fall into my pocket, but I walked up to 
a tree, reached out my hand, and took the 
oranges. He said, " Take," and I took. 
God says " Take," and you do it. God 
says, " There is my Son." " The wages of 
sin is death ; the gift of God is eternal 
life." Who will take it now? 

A DEVICE OF SATAN. 

Satan is down in the audience working 
while I am preaching. Satan says, " If you 
take it, you will have to give up too much. 
Do not you let that man get a power over 
you to-night. Do not believe that man. 
If you become a Christian, you have got 
to give up so much." Let me say — mark 
the words — God does not come here and 
ask any man to give up anything. The 
first thing God wants you to do is to take ; 
and after you have taken the new life, and 
got a new nature, old things pass away, 
and all things become new. I tried to 
stop swearing before I was converted, and 
the more I tried the worse I became. But 
one night, when Jesus met me, I just re- 
ceived Him, and I have had no desire to 
swear since. It stopped itself — I got 
something better. The things I once 
loved I now hate ; and the things I once 
hated I now love. There was a perfect 
change, a revolution in my life, when God 
revealed Himself to me ; and since then 
His yoke is easy and His burden is light. 
God does not come down and say, 
" Young man, give up this and that;" but 
he says, "There is my Son; take Him." 
There is the gift, and I tell you that there 
is not anything that God can give us that is 
worth more than the gift of eternal life. It 
you were allowed to choose yourself, you 
would ask for eternal life. You would 
rather have that gift than any other ; and 
that is the gift that God wants to bestow 
upon you. God says, " Here it is all in 
my Son. If you receive Him here, he will 
1 receive ' you yonder. If you reject 
Him here He will reject you yonder." He 
came unto His own, the Jews, and they 
would not have Him. " His own received 
Him not ; but as many as received Him, 
to them gave He power to become the sods 
of God, even to them that believe on His 
name." Now, the moment you receive 
Christ, you get power to serve Him ; the 
moment you receive the Lord Jesus, you 
get power to live for Him. 



73 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



DOMESTIC ANECDOTE. 

My wife had a schoolmate that had a lit- 
tle boy about four years old, and this beau- 
tiful little boy was one day cutting a piece 
of string with a penknife, and the knife 
went into his eye and put it out. My 
wife was therefore very careful about the 
children not using a knife. But if you tell 
a child he shall not have a thing, that is 
the very thing he wants. A good many 
people say they would like to have had 
Adam's chance. If they had they would 
have gone down like Adam. If you put a 
thousand children into this building with 
a great number of toys, and put one little 
thing in a room and shut it up, and if you 
said to the children, " I shall be gone a few 
hours; do not go near that room," that is 
the very first place they would go to. They 
would want to see what was in there. If 
you tell a child he shall not have a thing, 
that is the very thing he wants. My wife 
went out one day, and my little boy, two 
years old, got hold of a pair of scissors. 
My little girl knew he ought not to have 
them, and she went to him and tried to get 
them away ; but the little fellow held on to 
the scissors, and would not give them up. 
She was afraid of sticking them into his 
eyes, so she ran off to another room, and 
got an orange, and came running in, and 
held it up, and said, " Willie, do not you 
want the orange?" and the little fellow 
dropped the scissors, and went for the 
orange. If you will allow me the illustra- 
tion, God comes here, and says, " Here is 
my Son, take Him. " He saves the sinner ; 
and the moment we get Him, these things 
we love so much are gone ; they float away 
into the dim past. Christ is worth more 
than all the world; and God comes and 
says, " Here is my Son, take Him, and be- 
lieve on Him." And the moment you re- 
ceive Him, you get power over the flesh, 
the world, and the devil ; and you do not 
get the power until you receive life from 
Christ, until you believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. May God help you to believe now, 
and to receive the Gospel to-night ! " Go 
ye into all the world and preach the Gos- 
pel to every creature." May every man 
and every woman in this room to-night be- 
lieve the Gospel and be saved ! 

THE RICH EVANGELIST AND THE PEOPLE'S 
DEBTS. 

I will give you another illustration, for 
illustrations are better than dry sermons. 



I heard of an Englishman that was con- 
verted some time ago, and when the Lord 
converted him, he had a great desire to see 
every man converted ; and I would not 
give much for that man's conversion who 
did not have that desire. This man Christ 
had such a hold upon, that he wanted 
to go out and publish the good tid- 
ings. So he went into one town, and 
gave notice that he would preach in such 
a place. It got noised round that the 
man was rich, * so a great many went 
to see him out of curiosity. He had 
a great audience the first night, but, 
as he was not a very eloquent man, the 
people did not get interested. Men looked 
at the messenger instead of the message ; 
but never mind the messenger. The next 
night hardly any one was there. Then he 
got out great placards, and placarded the 
town, and he stated that if any man in that 
town owed any debt, if they would come 
round to his office between nine and twelve 
o'clock on a certain day, he would pay 
the debt. Of course that went through 
the town like wild-fire. One said to the 
other, " John, do you believe that ? " " No, 
I am not going to believe that any stranger 
is going to pay our debts." Not any one 
believed it, although there were a good 
many, no doubt, that would have liked to 
get their debts paid. Well, the day came, 
and at nine o'clock the man was there. At 
ten o'clock none had come. At eleven 
o'clock a man was seen walking up and 
down, looking over his shoulder, and finally 
he stuck his head in the door and said, " Is 
it true that you will pay any man's debt ? " 
"Yes; do you owe any debt?" "Yes." 
"Have you brought the necessary 
papers ? " The placard had told them 
what to do. "Yes." So the man drew a 
cheque and paid the other's debt, and he 
kept him and talked with him till twelve 
o'clock; and before twelve o'clock two 
other men came and got their debts paid. 
At twelve o'clock that man let them out, 
and the people outside said to them, " He 
paid your debts, did not he ? " " Yes, he 
did," they answered. But the people 
laughed and made fun of them, and would 
not believe it till they pulled out the cheque, 
and said, " There it is. He has paid all 
the debt." And then the people said, 
" What fools we were we did not go in and 
get our debts paid ! " But they could not ; 
it was too late ; the door was closed ; the 
time was up. And then the man as before 
preached the Gospel, and great crowds 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



79 



went to hear him ; and he said, " Now, my 
friends, that is what God wants to^do, but 
you will not let Him do it. Christ came 
to pay our debts, and that is the Gospel." 
I could not have a better illustration of the 
Gospel than that. Every man owes God a 
debt he cannot pay. Would you insult the 
Almighty by offering the fruits of this frail 
body to atone for sin ? Isaiah says, " He 
was wounded for our transgressions; He 
was bruised for our iniquity ; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him ; and 
with His stripes we are healed." Paul 
says, " I declare unto you the Gospel ; 
Christ died for our sins, according to the 
Scriptures." My friends, will you believe 
the Gospel to-night, and be saved ? 

Christ's commission to peter. 

I can imagine when Christ said to the 
little band around Him, " Go ye into all 
the world and preach the Gospel," Peter 
said, " Lord, do you really mean that we 
are to go back to Jerusalem and preach the 
Gospel to those men that murdered you ? " 
" Yes," said Christ to Peter ; " go, hunt up 
that man that spit in My face, and tell him 
he shall have a seat in My kingdom if he 
will accept of salvation as a gift. Yes, 
Peter, go, hunt up that man that made that 
cruel crown of thorns and placed it on My 
brow, and tell him I will have a crown 
ready for him when he comes into My 
kingdom, and no thorns in it. I will give 
him a crown of life. Hunt up that man 
that took a reed and brought it down over 
the cruel thorns, driving them into My 
brow, and tell him I will put a sceptre in 
his hand, and he shall rule over the nations 
of the earth if he will accept salvation. 
Hunt up that man that spit in my face, and 
tell him I forgive him freely, and will have 
a crown ready for him if he will* accept of 
salvation. Peter, go hunt up that roan 
that drove the spear into my side, and tell 
him there is a nearer way to my heart than 
that. Tell him I forgive him freely, 
and that he can be saved if he will accept 
of salvation as a gift. Hunt up the men 
that drove the nails into My hands and 
feet, and tell them I forgive them freely, 
and tell them they shall have a seat in My 
kingdom if they will accept of it. Go ye 
into all the world and preach the Gospel 
to every creature." Oh, may God help 
you to hear the Gospel to-night and to be 
saved! Christ died for our sins. Think 
of the sins represented by this vast body 



of men. But, thanks be to God, they can 
all be laid on His Son to-night if you will 
lay them on Him. He came to take away 
the sin of the world. Look yonder ! see 
what it says ! " The blood of Jesus Christ, 
His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." Look 
yonder ! " Behold the Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sins of the world." May 
God help you to lift your eye to the Lamb 
of God to-night ! Look, sinner, now ! 
" Behold the Lamb of God which taketh 
away the sin of the world ; " and if you go 
out of this world unsaved, it will be your 
fault. If you go out from here to-night 
without Christ as your Saviour, it will be 
your fault : you will do it at the peril of 
your soul. May God help you to look now 
and live. 



IX. 

POPULAR PRESENT-DAY EXCUSES. 

To-night I am going to call your at- 
tention to the same subject as last night, 
when we took up some of the popular 
excuses of the present day. We had time 
only to speak of a few, and to-night we want 
to follow up the same subject. Our friend 
has been singing about heaven, the home of 
the soul, and I read to you a few verses in 
Revelations about that upper and better 
world. And now to-night I want every 
one in this audience to believe that they 
really have an invitation to that world of 
light. It is God that is inviting every soul 
within this assembly to that feast. It is 
not an invitation of mine, it is not a text 
that I have manufactured, it is not an in- 
vitation that is got up by man, but it comes 
from the living God Himself to every soul 
here. Every person here is invited to the 
feast, and now the question comes, " What 
are you going to do with the invitation ?" 

THE YOUNG MAN FROM BRADFORD. 

I was made glad to-day to hear of a 
young man that came to this meeting last 
night. He came up from Bradford, and as 
he came into this hall, he said, " If Christ 
can be found here, I am determined to 
have Him ;" and the moment there was an 
opportunity given to go into the inquiry- 
room, that young man went in, and after a ' 
friend had talked with him some time, to 
all human appearance he accepted Christ, 
and went on his way rejoicing. I hope 
there will be many such here to-night, who 
have said to themselves, " If Christ can be 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



found here -to-night, by the grace of God, 
I'll find Him." If there are any such, let 
iik' say to you, " My friends, I bring an in- 
vitation to each one of you to be present 
at the marriage supper of God's beloved 
Son." 

And now, are you going to join with the 
three men that we were speaking of last 
night, and say, " I pray thee, have me ex- 
cused?" Are you going to make excuse? 

THE SCEPTICS AND INFIDELS OF LONDON. 

I want to come to some of the excuses 
that we meet with every night in the irt- 
quiry-room, and the excuse I have met in 
London, more perhaps than any other — for 
I have found more sceptics and more infi- 
dels the few days I have been in London 
than in any place I was ever in; young 
men coming into the inquiry-room full of 
infidelity, darkness, and doubt, and one of 
the greatest objections they have; one of 
the excuses that they are hiding behind, is 
the Bible. They are giving that as the reason 
why they do not accept the invitation to be 
at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Now, 
I want to say I never met a sceptic or in- 
fidel who had read the Bible through. I 
heard a man say the other day to another 
man, " Have you read such a book ?" 
"Yes." " Well, what is your opinion of 
it ?" " Well, I only read it through once ; 
I would not like to give my opinion with- 
out reading it more carefully." But men 
can give their opinion about God's Book 
without reading it. They read a chapter 
here and there, and say, " Oh, the Book is 
so dark and mysterious ;" and because they 
cannot understand it by reading a few chap- 
ters, they condemn the whole of it. The 
Word of God tells us plainly that the 
natural man cannot understand spiritual 
things. It is a spiritual book, and speaks 
of spiritual things, and a man must be born 
of the Spirit before he can understand the 
Bible. Wfyat seems very dark anpl myste- 
rious to you now will all be light anpl clear 
when ye are born, qf tlie Spirit. 

THE MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE. 

I can remember some portions of Scrip- 
ture that were very dark and mysterious to 
me when I was converted, but now they 
are very clear. I can remember things 
that ten years ago were very dark and mys- 
terious, but as I have gone on I understand 
them better, and the more we know of God, 
and the more we study the Word, the 



plainer it will become ; but the idea of an 
unconverted man is to take up the Bible 
and condemn it before he has been born of 
the Spirit. Why, when a man is born of 
the Spirit then he will understand the 
Word of God, and not before. You say, 
" If that is so, how am I to understand how 
to be saved ?" I will tell you. When God 
puts salvation before a sinner He puts it 
so plain that a man that runs can read, and 
a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not 
err therein. There are a great many things 
in the Book which are dark and mysteri- 
ous, but when it comes to the plan of sal- 
vation God has put it so plain that that 
little girl ten years old can understand it if 
she will. You understand what it is to 
come. "Come unto Me, all ye that labor." 
You know what it is to take a gift. " He 
came unto His own, and His own received 
Him not. But as many as received Him, 
to them gave He power to become the sons 
of God." " The wages of sin is death, but 
the gift of God is eternal life." That is 
taking a gift. You know what it is to be- 
lieve in a man ; well, " believe in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
You know what it is to put trust and con- 
fidence in a man ; now, put your trust and 
confidence in the living God, and you are 
saved. You are saved by casting yourself 
unreservedly upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 
When God puts salvation before a man He 
puts it so plain and simple that if he is 
willing to come as a little child he can 
come. 

THE CHILD AT SCHOOL. 

Supposing I should send my little boy, 
five years old, to school to-morrow morn- 
ing, and when he came home I should say, 
" Can you read, write, spell ? Do you un- 
derstand all about arithmetic, geometry, 
algebra f' The little fellow would look at 
me, and say, ■* Why, what do you talk in 
that way for? I have been trying all day 
to learn the A B C" Supposing I replied, 
" If you have not finished your education 
you need not go to the school any more ;" 
why, what would you say ? You would 
say, " Moody has gone mad." Well, there 
is about as much sense in that as in the 
way that infidels talk about the Bible. 
They take it up, read a chapter, and say, 
" Oh, it is so dark and mysterious we can- 
not understand it." This blessed Book is 
given to be a lamp to our feet and a light 
to our path, to guide the way to those 
eternal mansions. It never was given to 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



Si 



keep men out of the kingdom of God. 
That is the devil's work, trying to make 
you believe the Word of God is not true. 
I tell you the only way we can overcome 
the enemy of our soul is by the written 
Word of God, and the devil knows that, 
and so he comes up and says, " It is full of 
lies, it is dark and mysterious, it contradicts 
itself; don't you believe it." He knows 
the moment a man goes to the Word of 
God and believes it, he gets liberty to his 
soul, and he gets beyond Satan's reach ; he 
gets a weapon in his hand with which to 
conquer the devil; he overcomes the 
enemy of his salvation. The devil does 
not want you to find that out, and whispers 
this lie, and you believe it rather than the 
Word of God. Young man, your mother 
is right, the Bible is true, and you had bet- 
ter take that. 

WHAT ENGLAND OWES TO THE BIBLE. 

Why, these infidels that want to take 
away the Bible from us, what are they 
going to give us in its place ? What has 
made England but the Word of God? I 
heard a most eloquent man in America a 
few years ago say, " You look back in his- 
tory a few years and you see England and 
France moving along abreast in the march 
of nations. France closed the Bible and 
would not give it to its people. England 
opened the Bible, and what is the result ? 
Why, the English language is spoken round 
the world, and the sun never sets upon the 
Queen's dominions." And look and see 
how the English language has gone round 
the world. See what the Bible has done 
for England, and look and see what has be- 
come of France. Poor France closed its 
Bible, and it has gone down, and every na- 
tion that puts down the Bible has to go 
down, and every nation that exalts the 
Bible and lifts it up, God lifts it up and 
blesses them. Oh, my friends, let us cling 
close to the Bible. What are you going to 
do without it ? What are you going to give 
us in the place of it ? Do not give that for 
an excuse. Keep this in mind : you will 
never stand up before the bar of God and 
say the Bible kept you out of the kingdom. 
It may sound very well here now; you may 
be satisfied to give that for an excuse down 
here in the Agricultural Hall to-night ; you 
will not be satisfied to give that in the 
Courts of Heaven — in fact, you never will 
get there ; you will not stand up in the great 
judgment day and say the Bible kept you 
out of the kingdom. 



HYPOCRITES IN THE CHURCH. 

Then there is another class. Some 
people say, " I have not any doubt about 
the Word of God, but the fact is that there 
are some men in the church that ought not 
to be there ; therefore, I do not purpose to 
go into the church." I am not asking you 
to come into the church — not but what I 
believe in churches ; but I am asking you 
to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and 
am inviting you to this feast, and we will 
talk about the church by-and-by. We 
want you to come to Christ first, then we 
will talk to you about the church. But 
you say, here are some hypocrites. So 
there are, and I can imagine you saying, 
" Oh, yes, there is a man up here in one of 
the churches that cheated me out of £$ a 
few years ago, and you are not going to 
catch me in the company of hypocrites." 
Well, my friend, if you want to get out of 
the company of hypocrites, you had better 
get out of the world as quick as you can. 
One of the twelve apostles turned out to 
be a hypocrite, and there is no doubt there 
will be hypocrites in the church to the end 
of time. But " what is that to thee ?" says 
Christ to Peter ;" follow thou Me." We 
do not ask you to follow hypocrites, we ask 
you to follow Christ ; we do not ask you 
to believe in hypocrites, we ask you to be- 
lieve in Christ. Another thing, if you want 
to get out of the company of hypocrites 
you had better make haste and come to 
Christ. There will be no hypocrites at the 
marriage supper of the Lamb ; they will 
all be in hell, and you will be there with 
them if you do not make haste and come 
to Christ. That excuse would sound 
strange, would it not ? We very often hear 
men give it down here, but it would sound 
very strange before Jehovah, a man saying, 
" I know you invited me to be at the mar- 
riage supper of your Son, but I did not 
accept it because I knew there were some 
hypocrites % that professed the Gospel." 
Man will have no excuse when he comes to 
stand before God ; his mouth will be 
sealed. 

THE PRESSURE OF BUSINESS. 

There is another class who say, " I know 
there are hypocrites, but they don't have 
any influence over me," and if I could go 
to the door as you go out to-night, and take 
you by the hand and say, u My friend, why 
not accept of the invitation to-night?" you 
would say, " I pray to be excused to-night, 



82 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



I have not time. I have got some very- 
pressing business to-morrow morning to 
attend to, and I have to go home to bed as 
quick as possible, to get my night's rest. 
You will have to excuse me ;" and the 
mothers here would say, " I have to go 
home and put the children to bed, you will 
have to excuse me ; " " very pressing 
business;" "have no time." Thousands 
of men in London say they have not 
time. Thanks be to God, it don't take 
time, it takes decision. But what have 
you done with all the time God has given 
you ? Your locks are turning grey, your 
eye is growing dim, and that temple of 
your body is coming down — what have 
you done with all those years? Is it true 
you have not time? What did you do 
with the 365 days last year? No time 
during those 365 days — what have you 
done with all those hours ? Have not you 
had time to accept of this invitation ? 
Why, men spend 15 or 20 years to get an 
education that they may go out to 'earn a 
living for this frail body, that is soon to be 
eaten up with worms, or 5 years to learn a 
trade that they may earn a living ; and yet 
they have not five minutes to seek their 
souls' salvation! You "have no time." 
Is it true ? You know it is a lie, and if 
you go out to-night unsaved it will not be 
because you have not time, but because 
you won't accept the invitation. God 
says, " Seek first the kingdom." That is 
the first thing to do. Let the children sit 
up a little late to - night, let your business 
be suspended to-morrow. Supposing you 
do not get so much money to-morrow and 
get Christ, is not that worth more than 
money ? Better for a man to be sure of 
salvation than to have the wealth of the 
world rolled to his feet. If you take my 
advice you will 

JUST TAKE TIME TO-NIGHT, 

and just make up your mind — this night 
the question of eternity must be settled. 
But there is another excuse coming up 
from some one in the gallery. A man 
says, "My heart is so hard." Well, that 
is just the very reason you ought to come. 
If you had not a hard heart you would 
not need a Saviour. Can you soften 
your heart ? Can you break your heart ? 
Did not God invite the hard - hearted ? 
Did not Christ come to seek and to save 
that which was lost? It is just because 
men's hearts are hard that they need a 
Saviour, and that is no excuse at all. 



God invites you, and you won't stand up 
and say to the Great King you did not 
accept the invitation because you had a 
hard heart. He invites " whosoever," and 
you can come along with your hard heart. 

CHRIST BREAKING THE CHAIN. 

In the north there was a minister talk- 
ing to a man in the inquiry -room. He 
says, " My heart is so hard, it seems as 
if it was chained, and I cannot come." 
" Ah," says the minister, " come along, 
chain and all;" and he just came to 
Christ hard-hearted, chain and all, and 
Christ snapped the fetters, and set him 
free right there. So come along. If you 
are bound hand and feet by Satan, that 
is the work of God to break the fetters ; 
you cannot break them. Thanks be to 
God, He can snap the fetters and set the 
captive souls free to-night. I do not care 
how hard the heart is : the Lord can 
save to the uttermost, and He bids you 
come just as you are. Oh, this old ex- 
cuse — 

" 1 am so bad ! " 

Paul said he was the " chief " of sin- 
ners, and if the chief has gone up on 
high there is hope for everybody else. 
The devil makes us believe that we are 
good enough without salvation if he can ; 
and if he cannot make us believe that, 
he says, " You are so bad the Lord won't 
have you ;" and so he tries to make peo- 
ple believe because they are so bad Christ 
won't have anything to do with them. 
God invites you to come just as you are. 
I know a great many people want to come, 
but they are trying to get better and to 
get ready to come. Now mark you, my 
friend, the Lord invites you to come just 
as you are, and if you could make yourself 
better you would not be any more accept- 
able to God. Do not put these filthy 
rags of self-righteousness about you. God 
will strip every rag from you when you 
come to Him, and He will clothe you with 
glorious garments. When our war was 
going on we would sometimes go to the 
recruiting office and see a man come in 
with a silk hat, broadcloth coat, calfskin 
boots — his suit might be worth ^100; and 
another man would come in whose clothes 
were not worth a pound ; but they both 
had to strip and put on the uniform of 
the country. And so when we go into 
Christ's vineyard we must put on the livery 
of heaven and be stripped of every rag. 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



«3 



However bad you are, come along just as 
you are and the Lord will receive you. 

THE ARTIST AND THE BEGGAR. 

I read some time ago of an artist who 
wanted to find a man that would represent 
the prodigal. One day, walking up the 
streets, he met a poor beggar, and the 
thought occurred to him, " That man 
would represent the prodigal." He told 
him what he wanted, and found the beggar 
was ready to come to his place of business 
and sit for his painting if he would pay 
him for his time. The man appeared on 
the day appointed, but the artist did not 
recognize him. He said, "You made an 
appointment with me." " No," says the 
artist, " I never saw you before." "You 
are mistaken ; you did see me, and made 
an appointment with me." " No, it must 
be some other artist. I have an appoint- 
ment to meet a beggar here at this hour." 
" Well," says the beggar, " I am the man." 
" You the man ?" " Yes." " What have 
you been doing ?" " Well, I thought I 
would get a new suit of clothes before I 
got painted." " Well," says the artist, " I 
don't want you ;" he would not have him 
then. And so if you are coming to God, 
come just as you are. Do not go and put 
on some garments of yours, and think the 
Lord will accept you because you have 
some good thoughts and desires. Come 
along just as you are. I do not care how 
bad you are; this Man receiveth sinners and 
eateth with them, and all you have to do 
is to prove that you are a sinner, and I wil 
prove to you that you have a Saviour, and 
the greater the sinner the more need of a 
Saviour. 

PREJUDICE AGAINST SPECIAL SERVICES AND 
LAY PREACHERS. 

Some say, " I would like to become a 
Christian, but I have a prejudice against 
these special meetings, and against Ameri- 
cans, and against a layman too. If it was 
a regular minister, and it was our regular 
minister, I would accept the invitation." 
If that is your difficulty, I can help you out 
of that. You can just get right up, and go 
out of the hall, and run right over to your 
minister, and have a talk with him. And 
if you say you do not want to be converted 
in a special meeting, there are regular meet- 
ings in all the churches throughout Lon- 
don, and your minister would be most glad 
to see and talk and pray with you. But if 



you say, " There is a great awakening here 
in London," and you do not want to be 
converted in that way, you can jump into 
a train, and go to some town where there 
is no revival. We can find you some place 
where there is no revival, and some church 
where there is not much of the revival 
spirit. If you really want to go, don't 
give that for an excuse. How wise the 
devil is ! When the church is cold, and 
everything is dead, men say, " Oh, well, if 
there was only some life in the church I 
might become a Christian, if we could only 
just have a wave from heaven." Then 
when the wave does come they say, " Oh, 
no, we are afraid of excitement, and afraid 
of these special meetings. We are afraid 
there will be something done that won't be 
just in accordance with our ideas of pro- 
priety." My friend, it is God who is 
working. Come along just as you are. 
Do not wait another minute, but accept 
the invitation and accept it right here to- 
night. 

A WORD THAT SHOULD BE ABOLISHED. 

There is another class here who say, " I 
would like to come, but then I do not feel." 
That is, I think, the very worst excuse, and 
the most common excuse, we have. I wish 
sometimes the word could be abolished — 
feel, feel. You go into the inquiry-room. 
" Well, Mr. Moody, I do not feel this and 
that. J ' Why, supposing my friend Mr. 
Stone should invite me to go to his house 
to-morrow to dinner, and I say to Mr. 
Stone, " I would like to go very much, but 
I don't know as I feel right." "Well," he 
says, " what do you mean ? Do you mean 
you don't want to go to my house ? " " Oh, 
no, I want to go." That is what men say 
— " Oh, yes, we want to be saved." " What 
do you mean, Mr. Moody ? Do you mean 
that you do not know as you will be well 
to-morrow? Do you think you will be 
sick ? " " Oh, no, I expect to be well to- 
morrow if I live." "Well, what do you 
mean by feeling ? " " Well, I do not know" 
just how I'll feel. I would like very much to 
go to your house to dinner to-morrow, but 
I don't know as I will feel just right." " I 
don't understand you, Mr. Moody; I am 
not talking about feeling ; I invite you to 
come to my house to dinner." " Well, I 
would like to come very much, but the fact 
is I do not know how I will feel to-mor- 
row." I can imagine my friend Mr. Stone 
saying, " What has come over Moody ? I 
think the fellow has gone mad. I asked 



$4 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



him to my house to dinner, and he says he 
would like to come, but he does not know 
as he will feel right, and he talked about 
feeling all the time." Of course you would 
say he has gone mad. That is the way 
people talk now. You talk to them about 
coming to the kingdom of God, and they 
say, " I do not know as I feel just right." 

AWAY WITH YOUR FEELINGS. 

God is above feeling. Why, can you con- 
trol your feelings ? If I could I would feel 
good all the time — never catch me feeling 
bad at anything. I am sure if I could con- 
trol my feelings I never would have any 
bad feelings; I would always have good 
feelings. Bear in mind Satan may change 
our feelings fifty times a day, but he cannot 
change the Word of God; and what we 
want is to build our hopes of heaven upon 
the Word of God. When a poor sinner is 
coming up out of the pit, and just ready to 
get his feet upon the Rock of Ages, the 
devil sticks out a plank of feeling, and says, 
" Get on that," and when he puts his feet 
on that, down he goes again. Take one of 
these texts — "Verily, I say unto you, he 
that heareth My word and believeth on 
Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and 
shall not come into condemnation, but is 
passed from death unto life." My friend, 
that is worth more than all the feelings 
that you can have in a whole lifetime. I 
would a thousand times rather stand on that 
verse than on the best frame and feeling. 
I took my stand there twenty years ago. 
The dark waves of hell have come dashing 
up against me ; the waves of persecution 
have dashed up around me ; doubts, fears, 
and unbelief have assailed me ; but I have 
been able to stand right there. It is a sure 
footing for eternity. It was true 1,800 
years ago, and it is true to-night. That Rock 
is higher than my feeling. What we want 
is to get our feet upon the Rock, and then 
the Lord will put a new song into our 
mouths. 

NOT A MISFORTUNE, BUT A SIN. 

There is another class who say they 
cannot believe. Not long ago, a man said 
to me, " I cannot believe." I said "Who ?" 
" Well, I cannot believe." I said, "Who ? " 
He stammered and stuttered, and I 
said, " Who cannot you believe — God ? " 
" Oh, yes, I believe God, I cannot be- 
lieve myself." " Well, you do not want 
to believe yourself. Your heart is de- 



ceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked. Put no confidence in the flesh. 
Don't believe yourself, make yourself a 
liar, and God to be true. Believe in God, 
and say as Job said, " Though He slay me 
I will trust Him." Some men seem to 
talk as if it was a great misfortune that 
they do not believe. Bear in mind it is 
the damning sin of the world. " When 
He, the Holy Ghost, is come, He will re- 
prove the world of sin, and of righteous- 
ness, and of judgment; of sin, because 
they believe not on Me." That is the sin 
of the world" — * because- they believe not 
on Me." Why, that is the very root of 
sin, the very tree, and all the fruit. This 
is the tree that brings forth this bad fruit 
— it is the tree of unbelief. May God 
open your eyes to-night to see that God is 
true, and that you may be led to put your 
trust in Him now. 

A PACK OF LIES. 

I wish I had time to go on with these 
excuses, for they are as numerous as the 
hairs on our heads. But if I could go on 
and exhaust them all, the devil would help 
to make more. You can just take them, 
tie them up in one bundle, and mark them 
a pack of lies, the whole of them. Not 
one of them is true. And let me say, if 
your excuse is a good one, if you have an 
excuse that will stand the light of eternity, 
do not give it up for anything I have said. 
Hold it firm, take it to the bar of God, 
and tell it out to Him. But if you have 
an excuse that won't stand the piercing 
eye of God, I beg of you as a friend, give 
it up — let your excuses go. Let them go 
to the four winds of heaven, and accept of 
the invitation now. It is a very easy 
thing for a man to excuse himself into hell, 
but you cannot excuse yourself out. 

And. another very solemn thought is, 
God will excuse you if you want to be ex- 
cused. He does not want to do it. " As 
I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure 
in the death of the wicked ; but that the 
wicked turn from his way and live. Turn 
ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for why 
will ye die, oh house of Israel ?" God 
wants you to come to His feast. 
Come just as you are; accept the invita- 
tion. Let the shop be closed till you ac- 
cept this inyitation. Let business be sus-* 
pended till you accept this invitation. Let 
the oxen stand in the stall till you accept 
of this invitation. Let everything else be 
laid aside until the great question of eter- 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



85 



nity is asked, until you can look up and 
say, " God is my Father, Jesus Christ is 
my Saviour, and heaven shall be my future 
home." 

I wish I had time to call your attention 
to who will be at the marriage supper of 
the Lamb. 

LIFT YOUR EYES HEAVENWARD 

to-night, mothers ; you have got loved chil- 
dren that have gone on before you, and 
they will be at the marriage supper of the 
Lamb, they will sit down with Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God 
— will you be missing ? Fathers and 
mothers that have loved ones that have 
gone on before you, if you could hear 
them — they are shouting from the battle- 
ments of heaven, " Come this way." 
Young man, you have a sainted mother 
there, a loved father there : they are beck- 
oning you heavenward to-night. They 
have been gathering from the time the holy 
Abel went up — for 6,000 years they have 
been gathering out of the four corners of 
the earth. The purest and best of earth 
are not down here, they are in heaven, and 
God wants you and I to be there. Blessed 
is he that shall be at the marriage supper 
of the Lamb. Oh, by the grace of God I 
mean to be there. My friends, let us to- 
night every one accept of the invitation. 
God invites rich and poor, high and low, 
learned and unlearned, all alike to come 
to the feast. Do not make light of the in- 
vitation. 

THE REPLY TO THE ROYAL INVITATION. 

Suppose we should just write out the 
excuse to the King of Heaven : " While 
sitting in the Agricultural Hall, March 24, 
1875, I received a very pressing invitation 
from one of your messengers to be present 



at the marriage supper of your only-be- 
gotten Son. I pray Thee, have me ex- 
cused." Would you come up and sign 
that ? Would you take your pen and put 
your name down to that excuse ? I can 
imagine you saying you would let your 
right hand forget its cunning, and your 
tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth 
first. I doubt whether there is a man in 
this room that could be made to sign this 
excuse ; but what will you do ? Many of 
you will get up and go out of this hall, 
making light of the preacher, laughing at 
everything you have heard, paying no at- 
tention to the invitation. I beg of you, do 
not make light of this invitation. It is a 
loving God that invites you to a loving 
feast, and God is not to be mocked. Go 
play with the forked lightning, trifle with 
any pestilence, any disease, rather than 
with God. God is not to be trifled with. 
It is God that invites you. Young lady, 
what will you do with the invitation to- 
night ? Young man, what will you do 
with the invitation to - night ? Will you 
accept of it ? Oh, may God help you 
now to say from the very depths of your 
heart, " By the grace of God I will ac- 
cept." 

Just let me write out another. " To 
the King of Heaven : While sitting in 
the Agricultural Hall, March 24, 1875, I 
received a pressing invitation from one of 
your servants to be present at the marriage 
supper of your only - begotten Son. I 
hasten to reply, By the grace of God I 
will be present." Who will sign that? 
Who will set to their seal to-night that 
God is true ? Be wise to-night, and accept 
of the invitation. Make up your mind 
you will not go away till the question of 
eternity is settled. May God bring hun- 
dreds to a decision to-night is the prayer 
of my heart. 



86 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



NOTE. 

[Just as the preceding pages were going to press, the publishers received the Lon- 
don Christian World, for April 27, which contains verbatim reports of Mr. Moody's 
celebrated addresses on Heaven and The Blood j not heretofore fully published. The 
paper also contains the following notice of the work of the Evangelists during their 
second month in London.] 



The American Evangelists are now near- 
ing the end of their second month in Lon- 
don. During the greater part of April 
services have been conducted daily in each 
of the four divisions of the metropolis. 
Messrs. Moody and Sankey have divided 
their labors almost equally between the 
East and the West ends — officiating at 
Her Majesty's Opera House in the Hay- 
market at the daily noon prayer-meeting, 
and also at an afternoon Bible reading, 
while in the evening they have generally 
been present at the service in the Bow-road 
Hall. On two evenings of each week they 
have returned to the Agricultural Hall in 
Islington. The first week after their de- 
parture from that hall the services there 
were conducted by Rev. William Taylor, 
of California ; but the attendance instantly 
dropped from 12,000 to 2,000, and sank to as 
low as 1,000 before the week was done. In 
the second week Mr. Taylor was succeed- 
ed by the Rev. W. H. M. Aitken (Episco- 
palian), of Liverpool, who secured much 
larger congregations, there being occasion- 
ally as many as 5,000 and 6,000 present to 
hear him ; and at the Victoria Theatre, on 
the South side, Mr. Taylor held daily meet- 
ings, where his labors would appear to be 
better appreciated than they were at Isling- 
ton. The prayer-meeting at the Opera 
House has not been so well attended, on 
the whole, as that at Exeter Hall ; but the 
Bible readings have attracted great congre- 
gations, these including many members of 
fashionable society, led by Her Royal 
Highness the Princess of Wales, who was 
present on Thursday, April 15. In an 
article on " The American Revivalists in 
England," the New York Independent says : 
" We presume that the aristocracy and the 
literati will scarce hear of the movement 
that is about them. It is an after genera- 
tion that builds the monuments of the 
prophets. Bunyan got no words of honor 



1 from the Duke of Bedford, whose descend- 
ant has lately set up his statue." Several 
months before these words were written, 
Mr. Moody had sojourned as a guest with- 
in the walls of Dunrobin Castle, the north- 
ern seat of the Duke of Sutherland ; and 
weeks before he had dined with the Lord 
Chancellor of England, at Bournemouth. 
At his first meeting in the Agricultural 
Hall he was assisted by a peer of the realm, 
and other noblemen took part in subse- 
quent gatherings, while Lord Cairns, the 
Earl of Shaftesbury, and many other mem- 
bers of the aristocracy formed part of his 
audience. The favor with which his labors 
are regarded by a large section of the no- 
bility has been still more conspicuously dis- 
played since the opening of the services in 
the Haymarket, and especially since the 
visit paid by the Princess of Wales. Stand- 
ing somewhat in the same relation to Mr. 
Moody that the Countess of Huntingdon 
did to Whitefield, her Grace the Duchess 
of Sutherland has been well-nigh a daily 
attender, accompanied sometimes by her 
daughter and Lady Constance Leveson- 
Gower. Twice last week the Duke and 
Duchess of St. Albans were seen in the 
royal box, the Prince Teck has also been 
present, and so have the Duke and Duchess 
of Marlborough, the Countess of Gains- 
borough, Lady Dudley, Lord and Lady 
Rendlesham (the latter a daughter of the 
late popular Earl of Eglington), and many 
more of the " upper ten thousand." To 
crown all, it is alleged, not only that Lord 
Dudley interested himself in securing the 
Opera House for the American Evangelists, 
but that his lordship was encouraged to do 
this by no less a personage than the Heir- 
Apparent. Dr. Donald Fraser and Mr. 
Newman Hall have preached to excellent 
congregations at the Opera House ; but 
when Mr. Moody's place at the Bow-road 
Hall was taken by the Rev. Mr. Howie, a 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



87 



Free Church minister from Glasgow, and a 
powerful preacher, the congregations in- 
stantly melted away. The young men's 
nightly meeting at St. Mary's Hall, Isling- 
ton, was conducted until the end of last 
week by Mr. Henry Drummond, a nephew 
of the founder of the Stirling Tract Enter- 
prise ; and a pleasant feature of the work 
at the East-end has been the giving of a 
comfortable meal on the Sundays to many 
hundreds of poor people, brought together 
by young men visitors, assisted by some 
devoted ladies from Glasgow. 



X. 

A SERMON ABOUT HEAVEN. 

I have for my subject to-night, heaven. 
I was going to a meeting some time ago, and 
a friend said to me on my way, " What is 
your subject?" I told him I thought I 
should talk about heaven. I noticed a scowl 
on his forehead, and said, " What makes 
you look in that way ?" He said he was in 
hopes I was going to give them something 
practical, that there would be time enough 
to talk about heaven when we got there. 
But there is a passage in Timothy which 
says that " all Scripture is given by inspira- 
tion of God, and is profitable for doctrine," 
and if God did not want us to talk about 
and think about heaven He would not have 
so much written about it. And I think if 
people talked more about heaven they 
would have more of a desire to go there. 
When we were compiling this little hymn- 
book I wanted to put in two or three more 
hymns about heaven. My friend said, " I 
think you have too^many about heaven." I 
don't know, I may be wrong, but I cannot 
help but like those hymns wonderfully. 
" That beautiful land on high," — I have 
heard it the last ten or twelve years very 
often, and I have not got tired of it yet. I 
love to hear those sweet hymns about 
heaven, for it seems to me we cannot hear 
too much about heaven. If you were going 
to America to live and spend, the rest of 
your days, and it was given out I was going 
to talk about America here to-night, I can 
imagine how anxious you would be to listen 
to all I said about that country, about its 
climate, and about its inhabitants. You 
could not hear too much about a country 
which you were going to, to live a few years 
even, because our life here is but a vapor 
compared with that life beyond this. Well 
now, if we are going to spend eternity in 



heaven, can we henr too much about it ? I 
think not. 

THE INFIDEL'S QUERY. 

I remember soon after I was converted 
an infidel got hold of me and wanted to 
know why it was I always addressed my 
prayer upwards. He said God was every- 
where, He was no more above me in heaven, 
as I called it, than He was here ; He was 
the God of nature. And so I find infidels 
and sceptics, they reason away hell, they 
reason away heaven, and they would even 
reason away God. Now I will admit that 
God is here, the same as we say the sun 
has been shining in London to-day, but it 
is 95,000,000 of miles away, and so God 
may be here to-night, but at the same time 
God is a Person. God has a dwelling-place, 
and it is right that we should address our 
prayers upward. I think it is in the 
26th of Deuteronomy we read, " Look 
down from Thy holy habitation from 
heaven, and bless Thy people Israel 
and the land which Thou has given 
us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, 
a land that floweth with milk and honey." 
And in Genesis we read that God " went 
up " from talking with Abraham. In the 
3d of John we read Christ said He 
" came down from heaven." And then 
we find that when He was here on earth, 
in one place it is said He looked up to- 
wards heaven ; in that wonderful prayer in 
the 17th of John He "lifted up His eyes 
to heaven," it is said. So we find we have 
some authority for addressing our prayers 
upwards ; heaven is located above. 

THE HOME OF GOD. 

Then we find that it is the dwelling- 
place of God. Would you turn to 1 Kings 
viii. 30 : " And hearken Thou to the sup- 
plication of Thy servant and of Thy peo- 
ple Israel when they shall pray toward this 
place ; and hear Thou in heaven, Thy 
dwelling - place, and when Thou hearest, 
forgive. " Heaven is the " dwelling- 
place " of God. God has a home, God 
has a throne, God has a dwelling- 
place — " hear Thou in heaven, Thy 
dwelling - place." Now, how far away 
heaven is I do not know ; I have not been 
able to find out. There is one thing that 
I do know, it is not so far away but God 
can hear us when we pray. God can hear 
every prayer that goes up from this sin- 
cursed earth. We are not so far from Him 
but that He can see our tears and hear the 



ss 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



faintest whisper when we lift our heart to 
Him in prayer. In Daniel we read that 
Gabriel was caused to fly swiftly and come 
to Daniel. I do not know how long it 
took him to come, but as -near as I can 
find out it took him about four minutes. 
It we could find out how fast he flew we 
might find out how far heaven is. It does 
not take long for these angels of light to 
come to our rescue and help if we need 
them. In 2 Chronicles vii. 14, we read, 
" If My people, which are called by My 
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, 
and seek My face, and turn from their 
wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, 
and will forgive their sin, and will heal 
their land." That is God's own word, u I 
will hear from heaven," and then when 
Christ's disciples came to Him and said, 
" Lord, teach us how to pray as John 
taught His disciples," He taught them to 
pray thus : " Our Father who art in 
heaven," — not down here. That is His 
dwelling-place. God has a throne, and 
God has a dwelling-place, and let us make 
heaven real. I believe heaven is a city 
quite as real as London is. What we want 
is to make heaven real, and hell real, and 
God real, and Christ real, and then live as 
if w r e believed these things to be real. 

THE CURTAIN LIFTED. 

Now, we have it established that God is 
in heaven, that that is His dwelling-place, 
that He has a throne there. Then would 
you just turn to the 7th of Acts, for we 
want to find out who is there and what 
company we are going to be in when we 
get there — the 55th verse : " But he being 
full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stead- 
fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of 
God. and Jesus standing on the right hand 
of God." When a man is full of the Holy 
Ghost heaven does not seem far away ; he 
can see by the eye of faith clearly into the 
city, and can see Christ standing at the 
right hand of God. Stephen was full of 
faith and of the Holy Ghost, and the cur- 
tain was lifted and he looked in, and there 
he saw his blessed Lord and Saviour, whom 
he loved, standing at the right hand of 
God. Heaven was real to Stephen, Christ 
was real, He was a real living person, and 
he saw Him there. And I think that is 
what is going to make heaven so attractive 
to us — Christ will be there. 

THE VISION OF THE KING. 

One Christian asked another what he 



expected to do when he got to heaven, 
and he said he expected to take one good 
long look of about 500 years at Christ, and 
then he would want to see Paul and Peter 
and John and the rest of the disciples. 
Well, it seems to me one glimpse of Christ 
will pay us for all that we are called upon 
to endure here — to see the King in His 
beauty, to be in the presence of the King. 
And then the sweet thought is we shall be 
like Him when we see Him, and we shall 
see Him in His beauty, we shall see Him 
high and exalted. When He was down 
here it was the time of His humiliation, 
cast out from the world, spit upon and 
rejected ; but God hath exalted Him and 
put Him at the right hand of power, and 
there He is, and there, my friends, we shall 
see Him by-and-by. A few more tears, a 
few more shadows, and then God shall say, 
" Come up hither, and into the presence 
of the King we shall come. It may be I 
am talking to some one to-night that will 
see the King before the sun shall rise to- 
morrow morning — some one in this au- 
dience may be summoned away and be 
there with the Lord Jesus. Yes, it won't 
be the pearly gates that will be so attractive, 
it won't be the jasper walls, it won't be the 
streets paved with transparent gold, — that 
is not what is going to make heaven so 
attractive ; but it is the thought that Jesus, 
who loved us, and gave Himself for us, 
will be there, and we shall see Him, we 
shall look upon Him. Oh, that will make 
heaven glorious, to think that we shall see 
Him ourselves, that we shall behold Him 
and gaze upon Him, and hear that loved 
voice. Ah, methinks I would rather hear 
that voice, and look into those lovely eyes, 
and gaze upon that face than to see all the 
world. Yes, that is what God calls us to, 
that we may be in the presence of His 
beloved Son. 

STORY OF A MOTHERLESS CHILD. 

I was reading, some time ago, of a little 
child whose mother was sick, and the child 
was not old enough to understand about 
the sickness of the mother. It was taken 
away, and when the mother died, they 
thought they would rather have the child 
remember its mother as she was when she 
was well, and so they did not take her 
back till after the mother was buried/ 
They then brought the child home and she 
ran into the drawing-room to meet her 
mother, and her mother was not there. 
The little thing was disappointed, and ran 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



89 



into all the rooms, but could not find her 
mother. She began to cry, and asked 
them to send her back ; she did not want 
to stay; home had lost its attraction be- 
cause mother was not there. What is going 
to make heaven so delightful? It won't 
be the pearly gates; it won't be the jasper 
walls; but it will be that we shall see the 
King in His beauty, and shall behold Him, 
and not only Him, but those that have 
gone on before us. 

THE ANGELS OUR COMPANIONS. 

Then look to the 10th verse of the 18th 
of Matthew. We have God the Father 
and Christ the Son ; they will be with us 
and we shall be with them. Then we read 
in this verse, " Take heed that ye despise 
not one of these little ones; for I say unto 
you, that in heaven their angels do always 
behold the face of My Father which is in 
heaven." So we will have the angels for 
our companions, we will have the society 
of angels when we get in that world of 
light. You may say, " Oh, that is visionary 
to talk about guardian angels." But you 
know when Peter was out of prison the 
damsel who went to the door came back 
and said it could not be him, it was his 
angel. Why, I believe the early Christians 
believed it, and then the Scriptures teach 
that the angels encamp round about them 
that love God. I would not be surprised 
to find that there are more angels in this 
hall than there are human beings. God 
has given His angels charge over us to keep 
us. Look at that servant of Elisha on the 
mountain ; when his servant was alarmed 
and Elisha prayed^ God to open his eyes, 
he found the mountain was filled with 
angels and chariots and horsemen. They 
were down from the Eternal City just to 
shield that one servant of the living God. 
Oh, my friends, let us cheer up and remem- 
ber God thinks so much of us that He 
sends angels down to guard us, but in that 
world we will be companions of theirs, we 
will see them face to face, we will talk with 
them then. We cannot be brought into 
fellowship with them now, but then we 
shall be taken into the presence of these 
very angels. 

When Gabriel came down to tell Zach- 
arias what was going to take place he said, 
" I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence 
of God." Yes, there are angels in the 
presence of God, and we will have them 
for our society. 



THE REUNION OF THE REDEEMED. 



Just turn to John xii. 26 : — " If any man 
serve Me let him follow Me, and where I 
am there shall also My servant be; if any 
man serve Me, him will My Father honor." 
The servant and the master shall be to- 
gether. " If any man serve Me, that ser- 
vant shall be with Me," He says. A great 
many people come to me and want to know 
if I really think their friends that have died 
in the Lord are with the Lord. Some have 
an idea that they are separated from the 
Lord. Now, there are a few passages of 
Scripture that I think give us strong reason 
to believe that our departed friends that 
have died with Christ are safe with Him, 
and so we have not only God the Father, 
Christ the Son, and angels, but the re- 
deemed saints are there. Would you just 
look to the 2d Corinthians v. 1, where 
Paul says, " For we know that if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we 
have a building of God, an house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." Then 
in the 8th verse : — " We are confident, I 
say, and willing rather to be absent from 
the body, and to be present with the Lord." 
Yes, if this earthly house were dissolved, 
we have a building not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. Then he says, 
" Absent from the body, present with the 
Lord." I believe Paul thought when he 
left the body he should see the King in 
His beauty, that he would behold the Lord 
Himself. Then turn to Philippians i. 23, 
" For I am in a strait betwixt two, having 
a desire to depart and to be with Christ, 
which is far better." I think these 1,800 
years that Paul has been gone from the 
earth he has been with Christ. Christ 
would not be separated from him. Then 
we find other passages; — we have not time 
to dwell upon them, but it seems to me we 
have strong reason to believe that those 
friends that have died safe in Christ are 
with Him to-night. Then would you turn 
to Revelations vii, 9, " After this I beheld, 
and lo, a great multitude, which no man 
could number, of all nations, and kindreds, 
and people, and tongues, stood before the 
throne and before the Lamb, clothed with 
white robes and palms in their hands, and 
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation 
to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb." There they are, re- 
deemed saints, redeemed out of every 
kindred, every nation under heaven, around 
the throne, singing the song of Moses and 



9° 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



the Lamb. Yes, they sing much sweeter 
than you can sing on earth. And if we 
are redeemed, and our garments are washed 
in the blood of the Lamb, we shall join in 
that chorus, by-and-by, and sing much 
sweeter than we can here upon earth ; we 
shall shout, Glory to the Lamb that re- 
deemed us with His precious blood ! So 
now we have redeemed saints there. 

THE SEVENTY REVIVALISTS. 

There is another thought I want to 
bring out, and that is, it is the privilege of 
every child of God in this vast assembly to 
know that their names are written in the 
Book of Life, and believe we can have that 
assurance that our names have gon6 on 
before us, and are registered in heaven. 
Christ sent out His disciples, seventy of 
them, and told them to go into the towns 
and villages, and preach the kingdom of 
God, and tell the glad tidings to the in- 
habitants; and when these men came back 
they had had wonderful success. Why, 
they said that the very devils were subject 
to them. All they had to do was to com- 
mand the devils to leave men, and the 
devils fled before them. They were all 
elated with their wonderful success ; reviv- 
als had followed everywhere they had 
been ; they were revival preachers ; they 
were evangelists going into the towns 
and preaching. I have not any 
doubt but that there was a good deal of 
prejudice against them, but they went on 
preaching the glad tidings, and when they 
came back, Christ says, "Well, now, do 
not rejoice at that; I will tell you what to 
rejoice over. Rejoice that your names are 
written in heaven." And I would like to 
ask every one in this audience to-night this 
question, Is your name there? Can you 
rejoice to-night that your name is written 
in heaven, that your name is in the Book 
of Life ? Says Christ to His disciples, 
" Rejoice that your names are written in 
heaven." 

NAMES IN THE BOOK OF LIFE. 

Not long ago there was a man complain- 
ing about my talking about names written 
in the Book of Life, he did not believe in 
it. It took some time to look the subject 



up, 



and I was amazed to find so much in 



Scripture about names being written in the 
Book of Life. In the 12th of Daniel we 
read, " And at that time shall Michael 
stand up, the great prince which standeth 
for the children of thy people : and there 



shall be a time of trouble such as never was 
since there was a nation, even to the same 
time, and at that time Thy people shall be 
delivered, every one that shall be found 
written in the Book; and if our names are 
written in the Book of Life God will care 
for us, God will protect us." Not one 
whose name is written in the Lamb's Book 
of Life shall perish. If Christ did not 
want us to know that our names were 
written there, do you think He would have 
told His disciples to rejoice that their names 
were already there ? My friend, I believe 
it is the most important question that can 
come before us in this world. It is a 
thousand times better that we have our 
names written in God's Book than in all 
the books in the world — a thousand times 
better that our name shines out upon God's 
Book of Life, and is written there, than it 
is to be written in any church record in 
London. It is a great deal better that we 
make sure that our name is written in the 
Book of Life than that it is written in your 
ledgers with great sums attached to your 
names. It is a thousand times better to be 
sure that our name has been written in 
heaven than to have the wealth of the 
world. 

TELEGRAPH FOR A ROOM. 

Two years ago a friend of mine that 
was in London was going back to Amer- 
ica. She went to Liverpool with a party 
of American friends, and they were 
talking about what hotel they would 
stop at, and decided to go '. to the 
North - Western. The hotel was full, 
and as they were starting to find another, 
they said to my friend, " Are not you going 
with us ?" My friend said, " No, I am 
going to stay here." "Oh, no," they said, 
"you cannot stay here." But my friend 
said, " I am going to stay." " How is it?" 
" I have got a room." " Where did you 
get it ?" " Why, I sent my name on ahead." 
She had telegraphed a few days before and 
secured a room. And that is just what 
the children of God are doing now ; they 
are sending their names on ahead and get- 
ting them down in the Book of Life. They 
are not waiting for the dying minute. My 
friend, 

SEND YOUR NAME ON AHEAD 

to-night, and if you really want it there 
God will put it there. Yes, every one 
whose names are written in the Book of 
Life shall not perish, but shall be saved. 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



9i 



Turn to Philippians iv. 3 : " And I entreat 
thee also, true yokefellow, help those women 
which labored with me in the Gospel, with 
Clement also, and with other my fellow- 
laborers, whose names are in the Book of 
Life." There is Paul writing to those 
"whose names are in the Book of Life." 
Now, suppose I should ask every one in 
this audience to rise that have reason to 
believe that their names are in the Book 
of Life, would you rise? Supposing a 
letter should come to you addressed in the 
way Paul addressed this letter to those 
women whose names are in the Book of 
Life, could you say that was for you ? Oh, 
it is the privilege of every child of God to 
have his name there, and to know that it 
is there. I find so many people 



LIVING IN DOUBTING CASTLE. 

Why, it is salvation by doubts nowadays 
instead of by faith ; there are so few that 
dare to say, " I know that my Redeemer 
liveth, I know in whom I have believed." 
We find most Christians nowadays shiver- 
ing and trembling from head to foot ; they 
do not know whether they are saved or 
not. Yes, Christ never would have told 
His disciples to have rejoiced unless they 
had known that their names were there. 
Turn to Hebrews xii. 23 for a minute : 
" To the general assembly and church of 
the first-born, which are written in heaven, 
and to God the Judge of all and to the 
spirits of just men made perfect." A man 
sometimes asks another man what church 
he belongs to. Why, I belong to the gen- 
eral assembly and the church of the first- 
born, which are written in heaven. It is 
a good thing to belong to that church, be- 
cause your name will be written in the 
Book of Life. You will be sure to get 
into heaven if you belong to that church. 
You may belong to a great many churches 
on earth, and not get in. Be sure that you 
belong to the general assembly of the first- 
born, and that your names are written in 
heaven. Make sure of this one thing if 
you are not sure of anything else. It is 
better that you fail in health or in busi- 
ness, it is better that you go to some asy- 
lum, it is better for you to go to heaven 
from some poor-house or from some mad- 
house than to go to hell in a gilded chariot. 
Make sure that your name is written in 
heaven; then you have something worth 
rejoicing over. 



THE DREAD ALTERNATIVE. 

There is something said in Revelations 
about the names being written in the book, 
the 20th chapter and 15th verse: "And 
whosoever was not found written in the 
Book of Life was cast into the lake of 
fire." Young man, is your name in the 
Book of Life ? If it is not, and you should 
be cut down by death to - night, where 
would your soul be to-morrow ? Only 
think of it. Say, mother, is your name 
written in the Book of Life ? Are you 
sure it is there ? Just listen to these words 
again, " And whosoever was not found 
written in the Book of Life was cast into 
the lake of fire" May God send home 
the truth to - night, and may every one in 
this audience be sure that your name is 
written in the Book of Life. Let business 
be suspended, let everything wait till you 
have made sure of your soul's salvation. 
Do not let a scoffing, laughing, mocking 
world cheat you out of heaven. Do not 
let anything stand between you and this 
one great question. Look to the 21st 
chapter and the 27th verse : " And there 
shall in no wise enter into it anything that 
defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abom- 
ination or maketh a lie ; but they which 
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." 
Almost the last words in Scripture are 
about this Book of Life — they whose names 
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. 
Now, my friend, would you just ask your 
self the question, and may God press it 
home upon you, and may it sink deep into 
every heart here, " Is my name written in 
the Book of Life?" It seems to me the 
great work is to be sure that our names are 
there ; then we are ready to go and work 
for others ; we are not ready until we know 
that our names are in the Book of Life. 
And then these mothers and these fathers, 
why, what a work we have to do to get our 
children's names in that Book ! It seems 
to me every parent ought to be more anx- 
ious to have the names of their children 
written in that Book than to have them 
written high in some school, than that 
they should stand highest in their class, 
— a thousand times better that they should 
stand well in heaven, and that their names 
should be written in the Book of Life. 
And not only that, but I believe these 
little children can have their names writ- 
ten there, and we as parents can know 
that our children have their names there, 



9^ 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



if we work for it, if we pray for it, and 
that is our aim. Let us be 

FAITHFUL WITH OUR CHILDREN 

while they are young. I see some children 
here to-night; I do not know why they 
should not become Christians now. I do 
not know why iheir parents should not 
labor for their salvation. I believe there 
is a good deal of infidelity got into the 
Church of God at the present time. I do 
not believe we, as parents, realize how 



youns 



these children can become true dis- 



ciples of Christ ; if we did we would labor 
more for the salvation of little children. 

A MISSIONARY'S TOUCHING STORY. 

I was urging this one time in a meeting 
in America, and an old man got up at the 
close and said, " I want to endorse every 
word that has been said. I believe in the 
conversion of little children. Sixteen years 
ago I was in a heathen country laboring 
as a missionary, and my wife died and left 
me with three little motherless children. 
On the Sabbath after her death my eldest 
girl, ten years old, came to me and said, 
1 Papa, shall I take the children into the 
bedroom and pray with them as mother 
used to ? ' " Tkat is the power of example ; 
the mother was dead, and gone, and little 
Nellie, ten years old, wanted to follow in 
her footsteps. The father said yes, she 
might if she liked, and she led them off to 
the chamber to pray. He said when they 
came out he noticed that they had all been 
weeping, and asked what they had been 
weeping about. " Well, father," said the 
little girl, " I prayed just as mother taught 
me to pray, and then " — naming her little 
brother — "he prayed the prayer that 
mother taught him to pray ; but little Susie, 
she was too young, mother had not taught 
her a prayer, and so she made a prayer of 
her own, and I could not help but weep to 
hear her pray." " Why," said the father, 
" what did she say ? " Why, she put up 
her little hands, and closed her eyes, and 
said, ' O God, you have come and taken 
away my dear mamma, and I have no 
mamma to pray for me now — won't you 
please make me good just as my dear 
mamma was, for Jesus' sake, Amen ; ' " 
and, said the old missionary, God heard 
that prayer. That little child before she 
was four years old gave evidence of being 
a child of God, and for sixteen years she 
was in that heathen country leading little 
children to the Lamb of God that taketh 



away the sin of the world. Mother, do 
you believe your child can come too early ? 
Do you believe your child can have his 
name written in the Book of Life too early ? 
Oh, may God help us to labor for it, to call 
our children into the ark ! May God give 
us our children, and may their names be 
written in the Book of Life ! 

THE DYING SOLDIER AND THE ROLL-CALL. 

A soldier lay on his dying couch during 
our last war, and they heard him say 
"Here!" They asked him what he 
wanted, and he put up his hand and said, 
" Hush ! they are calling the roll of heaven, — 
and I am answering to my name," and 
presently he whispered, " Here ! " and he 
was gone. That great roll is being called. 
My friends, your name may come to-night ' 
— mine may come. Is your name in the - 
Book of Life ? If it is we will go up from •' 
earth with a shout of victory upon our lips ; 
it will be no sad summons. But to die 
without God, without hope, without our ' 
names written in the Book of Life, oh, how ] 
sad, how dark, how terrible ! May God | 
help you to-night, each and every one that 
are without God and without hope, to press 
into the kingdom is the prayer of my 
heart. 



XI. 

THE BLOOD. 

The subject I wish to call your attention 
to this afternoon is "The Blood." In the 
first place would you turn to Genesis iii. 
21 ? — " Unto Adam also, and to his wife, 
did the Lord God make coats of skins, and 
clothed them." In this verse we get the 
first glimpse of blood. Certainly the Lord 
could not have clothed Adam and Eve 
with the skins of beasts unless He had shed 
blood. There we have the innocent suffer- 
ing for the guilty — the doctrine of substitu- 
tion in the Garden of Eden. God dealt 
with Adam in government before He dealt 
in judgment. Death came by sin. Adam 
had sinned, and now the Lord comes down 
tojnake the way of escape. God came to 
him as a loving friend, and not to hurl him 
from the earth. Adam could have said to 
Eve, " If the Lord has driven us out of the 
Garden of Eden, He loves us" God put a 
lamp of promise into his hand before He 
drove him out, for He said, " The seed of 
the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." 
Did you ever think what a terrible state of 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



93 



things it would be if man was allowed to 
live for ever in his lost, ruined state ? It 
was out of love to Adam that God drove 
him out of Eden, that he should not live 
for ever. God put the cherubim there ; 
and now Christ has taken the sword out of 
his hand, and opened wide the gate, so that 
we can come in and eat. Adam might have 
been in Eden ten thousand years, and then 
be led astray by Satan ; but now our lives 
are hid with Christ. Man is safer with the 
second Adam out of Eden than with the 
first Adam in Eden. Would you turn to 
Genesis iv. 4 ? — " And Abel, he also 
brought of the fatlings of his flock, and of 
he fat thereof. And the Lord had respect 
into Abel and to his offering." These two 
3oys were brought up outside of Eden, and 
lad the same parents. Undoubtedly on 
:he morning of creation God marked out 
;he way a man might come to Him ; and 
.\bel walked in God's way, and Cain in his 
own. Perhaps Cain said he could not bear 
:he sight of blood, and he took that which 
God had cursed and laid it upon the altar. 
And there are a good many 

CAINITES IN THE CHURCH 

to-day ; and some have got into the pulpit, 
and they preach that it is not the doctrine 
of the blood, and that we can get to heaven 
without the blood. From the time Adam 
went out of Eden there have been Abelites 
and Cainites. The Abelites came by the 
way of the blood — the way God has marked 
out for them. The Cainites came of their 
own way. They want to get out of the 
doctrine of the blood. Some preach they 
don't believe in the blood, and they say it 
does not atone for sin. It is better to take 
God's word than\man's opinion ; therefore, 
turn to Genesis viii. 20 — "And Noah 
builded an altar unto the Lord ; and took 
of every clean beast, and of every clean 
fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the 
altar." We have thus passed over the first 
two thousand years, and have come to the 
second dispensation. The thought I want 
to call your attention to is this. The first 
things Noah did when he got out of the 
ark was to build an altar and slay the ani- 
mals, thus putting blood between him and 
his sin. The second dispensation is found- 
ed upon blood, and it is most important that 
these animals were taken through the flood 
expressly for this purpose. We find Noah 
walking by that highway, and all the men 
of God have been walking that way, for it 
is the blood that atones for sin. 



ABRAHAM SAW CHRIST. 

Would you turn to Genesis xii. 13 ? — 
" And Abraham lifted up his eyes and 
looked ; and, behold ! behind him a ram 
caught in a thicket by his horns ; and 
Abraham went and took the ram and of- 
fered him up for a burnt offering in the 
stead of his son." We find here another 
type. The ram was typical ; he was of- 
fered up in the place of Abraham's son. 
God loved Abraham so much that He 
spared his son ; but God loved us so much 
that He did not spare His Son, but freely 
gave Him up for us all. Here we find that 
mountain-peak sprinkled with blood. 
Abraham was willing to do all the Lord had 
told him, for he took the knife, and was 
ready to give all to God. Then it was 
that God gave him the secret of heaven, 
and told him what he was to do. He saw 
Christ and was glad. Jehovah opened the 
curtain of time, and Abraham saw Christ 
coming up. He saw his sins on Christ and 
was glad — he saw His day and was glad. 
All Abraham's seed lost their sins as much 
by Christ as we. For 4,000 years they 
were looking to the promise of his coming. 
They were not looking to the cross, but to 
the Messiah, and it was through Him all 
the nations of the earth were to be blessed. 
The difference is that we look back to 
Calvary, and they looked forward. Then 
again in Exodus xii. 13 we read — " And 
the blood shall be to you for a token upon 
the houses where you are ; and when I see 
the blood I will pass over you, and the 
plague shall not be upon you to destroy 
you, when I smite the land of Egypt." I 
can imagine some of the lords and dukes 
and great men, as they rode through and 
saw the poor Egyptians sprinkling their 
dwellings, saying they never saw such 
foolishness, for they were spoiling their 
places. The blood was to be put upon the 
door-posts and lintels, and not upon the 
floor, for that is what many are doing now, 

TREADING UPON THE BLOOD. 

Wherever blood was upon the door-post 
death passed over, and that kept death out. 
It was not what they were. He did not 
say, " When I see your prayers, your good 
deeds, I will pass over you ;" but " When 
I see the blood I will pass over you. A 
little child that night behind the blood in 
Goshen was as safe as Moses. People say, 
" If I was as good as that man who has 
been preaching for fifty years, or that 



94 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



mother in Israel who has long labored for 
Christ." But if you are behind the blood 
of the Lamb, you are as safe for heaven as 
any man living on earth. It ain't when I 
see how holy you are — how you go to 
church every Sabbath — how you say your 
prayers — how you pay your debts — but 
when I see the blood. Some one has said 
that the little fly in Noah's ark was as safe 
as the elephant. It was the ark that saved 
the fly and the elephant, and it is the blood 
that saves the weakest and the strongest. 
When deatn came that night with his 
sword, he entered the palace of the prince, 
and went into the houses of the great and 
mighty, and they all had to pay tribute to 
death, for the first-born in Egypt was 
smitten down that night. The only thing 
that kept death out was death itself. The 
only way that death can be met is by 
death. I have sinned, and must die, or 
get some one to die for me. Some people 
say it isn't the death of Christ, but His life. 
Suppose some one had said, I will have a 
live lamb ; I will tie my little white lamb 
against the door. Death would have 
passed over that lamb, and into the house. 
The blood shall be a token, and the great 
question is, Have you got the token ? If 
death should come after any one of us to- 
night, are we sheltered behind the blood ? 
that is the point. It is the blood that 
atones. Not my good resolutions, or 
prayers, or position in society, or what I 
have done, but what has been done by 
another. God looks for the token. 

HAVE YOU GOT THE TOKEN ? 

Some one has made use of this illustra- 
tion. You go down to a railway station to 
start for Liverpool, and you get your ticket 
at the office, but the man doesn't care who 
you are. When I went down to Liverpool 
the other day, a man called, " Tickets." I 
have an idea the man could not tell 
whether I was a white man or a black man. 
All he looked for was the ticket, the token. 
If I hadn't got the token, he would have 
put me out ; but, because I had the token, 
he passed me. God says, When I see the 
token — the blood — I will pass over you. 
If I am behind the blood, I am safe, and 
if I trample it under my feet, I must perish. 
These Egyptians made light of the He- 
brews sprinkling their door-posts. The 
blood of Christ is worth more to us than 
all the world. It is that and that alone 
that can atone for sin. 



STRONG AND SICKLY CHRISTIANS. 

In the eleventh verse of the same chap- 
ter we read : " And thus shall ye eat it ; 
with your loins girded, your shoes on your 
feet, and your staff in your hand ; and ye 
shall eat it in haste ; it is the Lord's Pass- 
over." Why you have not got more power 
is because you don't feed on the Lamb ; 
and this is why there are so many weak 
Christians. The Lamb not only atones 
for our sins, but we are to feed upon the 
Lamb. We have got a wilderness journey 
before us, as the children of Israel had. 
After we are saved we are to feed upon 
Christ ; He is the true bread from heaven. 
If I don't feed this soul with the true bread 
from heaven, I am sickly, and have not 
power to go and work for Christ. And 
that is the reason, I believe, why so few in 
the Church have power. Some people 
think if they have got one glimpse of Christ 
that is enough. You in England think 
much of your dinner, and why should not 
God's children think a good deal of their 
spiritual food ? We should no more think 
of laying in spiritual food to last for ten 
years than we should bodily food. A good 
many people are living on stale manna. 
A man in Ireland said to his boy, " I want 
you to eat two breakfasts. Do you know 
why ? " The boy said he understood one 
was for his body and the other for his soul. 
All Christians should take two breakfasts. 
Everything dated back to the passover 
night — to the time the blood was put upon 
the door-posts. All the time you are 
serving the world it goes for nought. If 
you have not come to Calvary you are 
losing time. Everything you do on the 
other side of the cross counts for nought ; 
the first thing is to know we are saved, and 
then we commence our pilgrimage to 
heaven. We don't start, as some people 
suppose, from the cradle to heaven. We 
start from the cross. We have got a fallen 
nature that is taking us hellward. We 
must be born of the Spirit, and 

SHELTERED BY THE BLOOD, 

and then we become pilgrims for heaven. 
Turn to Exodus xxix. 16 — " and thou shalt 
slay the lamb, and thou shalt take his blood 
and sprinkle it round about the altar." 
Even Aaron could not come to God until 
he sprinkled blood round about the altar. 
Ffom the time Adam fell there has been no 
other way a man can approach God but by 
the blood. You cannot have an audience 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



95 



of God until you come by the way of the 
blood. So it has been for 6,000 years. It 
has never been otherwise, and never will 
be. Leviticus viii. 23 — " And he slew it ; 
and Moses took of the blood of it and put 
it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and 
upon the thumb of his right hand, and up- 
on the great toe of his right foot." I had 
used to read a passage like this, and say it 
seemed absurd. I think I understand it 
now. The blood upon the ear, that a man 
can hear the voice of God. A man must 
be sheltered behind the blood before he can 
hear God's voice. The blood upon the 
hand, that a man may work for God. You 
cannot work for God until you are sheltered 
behind the blood, and until you are shel- 
tered it all stands for naught. You may 
build churches, endow colleges, pay minis- 
ters and missionaries salaries, but it all goes 
for naught until you are sheltered behind 
the blood. Don't let any one deceive you 
on this point. Don't let Satan deceive you 
by telling you that you can get to heaven 
by some other way. They asked Christ, 
" What must we do that we may do the 
works of God ? " Perhaps these men had 
got their pockets full of money, and were 
ready and willing to build churches. Christ 
told them that the work of God was that 
they believed. You cannot do anything to 
please God until you believe. As an illus- 
tration, suppose I should say to my little 
girl, " Emma, go and get me a glass of 
water ; " and she was to say, " I don't want 
to do it, papa." She goes into another 
room and some one gives her a cluster of 
grapes, which she decides to give to her 
papa. Do you think these grapes would 
be acceptable if she did not want to get the 
water ? I shoulol say, " I do not want the 
grapes until you have brought the water. 
She goes out of the room again, and some 
one gives her an orange. If she brought 
the orange to me, do you think I should 
want it ? Ten thousand times no, and that 
child cannot do anything to please me until 
I get the water. You cannot please God 
until you believe on His Son. 

THE CHURCH NEEDS TO BE ON FIRE. 

I wish the Church was on fire, and I wish 
all Christians were on fire. Don't let us 
set dead men to work. I don't believe in 
unconverted Sabbath-school teachers and 
unconverted men working in the Church, 
and I hope the line will ere long be drawn. 
God has given an unspeakable gift — the 
Son of His bosom — and if we reject that 



Son and won't follow Him, do you think 
anything we can do will please God? The 
blood upon the hand is that a man may 
work for God, and on the foot that a man 
may walk with God. When Adam fell he 
fell out of communion with God. Before he 
fell, he walked with God, but the moment 
he fell out of communion with Him, and 
from that time to this He has been trying 
to get men back into communion. God is 
full of truth and justice. His justice must 
be met, and after that has been met He is 
satisfied. God never walked with men un- 
til He put them behind the blood at Goshen. 
What could stand before them then ? They 
passed through the Red Sea, and God said 
to Joshua, " Take this country, and no 
man shall be able to stand before you all 
the days of your life." Look at Joshua 
walking round Jericho, and as he does so a 
man stands before him with a sword in his 
hand. Joshua steps up to him and says, 
" Art thou for us, or against us ? " He was 
to lead them on to victory, but God was 
testing Joshua's faith. When God gave 
them Saul as their king, they raised the 
cry, " God save the king ! " and this cry 
has been raised ever since. They then, so 
to speak, voted God out when they had 
got a king. In the days of Joshua there 
were whole regiments of giants, but one 
stripling from the Lord's hosts defeated the 
giant of Gath. If God is with us, the 
giants will be like grasshoppers ; but if God 
is not with us, it will be different. I would 
rather have ten men separated from the 
world, than ten thousand nominal Chris- 
tians who go to the prayer-meeting to-night 
and the hall to-morrow. The Church and 
the world are mixed up into one. Now 
turn to Leviticus xvii. n — " For the life of 
the flesh is in the blood ; and I have given 
it to you upon the altar to make an atone- 
ment for your souls, for it is the blood that 
maketh an atonement for the soul." There 
may be some who are saying, Why does 
God demand blood? Some one said to 
me," I detest your God, He demands blood ; 
I don't believe in such a God, for my God 
is merciful to all." I want to say, my God 
is full of mercy, but don't be so blind as to 
believe that God is not just, and that He 
has not got a government. Suppose Queen 
Victoria didn't like any man to be de- 
prived of his liberty, and she threw all her 
prisons open, and was so merciful that she 
could not bear any one to suffer for guilt, 
how long would she hold the sceptre ? how 
long would she rule this empire? Not 



9 6 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



twenty-four hours. Those very men who 
cry out about God being merciful would 
say, " We don't want such a Queen." 

A REVOLT IN HEAVEN. 

God is merciful, but He isn't going to 
take an unredeemed sinner into heaven. If 
He did, the redeemed would plant the 
banner of rebellion round the throne, and 
there would be a revolt. This verse tells 
why God demands blood. Atonement 
means at-one at-one-ment. God demands 
blood because He said to Adam, " On the 
day thou sinnest thou must die." Sin 
came into the world and brought death 
into the world. God's words must be kept. 
I must either die or get somebody to die 
for me, and in the fulness of time Christ 
comes forward to die for the sinner. He 
was without sin, but if He had committed 
one sin He would have had to die for His 
own sin. The life of the flesh is in the 
blood, and it is not blood He demands 
really, it is life, and life has been forfeited. 
We have sinned, and death must come, or 
justice must take its course. Glory to 
God in the highest to think He sent His 
Son, born of a woman, to take our nature 
and die in our stead, tasting death for 
every man. You take this blood out of 
this body of mine, and life is gone. 

GOD DEMANDS BLOOD. 

He demands life. Man has sinned, 
therefore life must be forfeited, and I must 
die or find somebody to die for me. My 
friends, I have only just touched this sub- 
ject. If you read your Bibles carefully 
you will find the scarlet thread running 
through the Bible. It commenced in Eden 
and flows on to Revelation. I cannot find 
anything to tell me the way to heaven but 
by the blood. That book (holding up the 
Bible) wouldn't be worth carrying home if 
you take the scarlet thread out of it, and 
it don't teach anything else, for the blood 
commences in Genesis and goes on to Rev- 
elation. That is what this Book is written 
for. It tells its own story, and if a man 
should come and preach another gospel 
don't you believe him. If an angel should 
come and preach anything else don't be- 
live it. And if you are in a church, either 
Dissenting or Established, and the min- 
ister doesn't preach the blood, you get out 
of it as Lot did out of Sodom. Don't 
trifle with this subject of the blood. In 
your dying hour you would give more to 
be sheltered behind this blood than for all 



the world. Christ died for us, and all I 
have to do is to accept Him. Christ said, 
" You take My life and I will take your 
sins." Don't you want to make this bar- 
gain ? Death shall never have his hand 
on Christ again. Christ says, My life is 
yours. I will have it. Won't you ? Isn't 
it the height of madness for any one of you 
to go out of this place and not accept it ? 
Christ laid down His life that you and I 
might live, and now out of gratitude ought 
we not to serve Him ? Some people think 
it is noble to lift up their voice against 
Christ, but it is a cowardly act. 

THE MOTHER'S LOVE. 

In the time of the Californian gold fever 
a man went to the diggings, and left his 
wife to follow him some time afterwards. 
While on her voyage with her little boy 
the vessel caught fire, and as there was 
a powder magazine on board the captain 
knew when the flames reached it the ship 
would be blown up. The fire could not 
be got under, so they took to the life-boats, 
but there was not room for all. As the 
last boat pushed off the mother and boy 
stood on the deck. One of the sailors said 
there was room for another. What did the 
mother do? — she gave up her boy. She 
kissed him, and told him if he lived to see 
his father to tell him she died to save her 
boy. Do you think when that boy grew 
up he could fail to love that mother who 
died to save him ? My friends, this is a faint 
type of what Christ has done for you and 
me. He died for our sins. He left heaven 
for that purpose. Will you go away say- 
ing, I see no beauty in Him ? May God break 
every heart here to-day ! and may we become 
loyal to Him ! You will need Him when 
you come to cross the swelling of Jordan. 
You will need Him when you go up to the 
bar of God. For death to come and find 
without Christ, and God, and hope, — may 
God forbid ! 

THE FIRST PREACHERS OF THE BLOOD. 

I want to follow up the subject of yester- 
day, and those of you who were present 
then will remember I was speaking of " The 
Blood " especially in the Old Testament. 
This afternoon I will take up the 
subject from the New Testament. 
When I was in Dublin I gave a lecture on 
" The Blood," and a lady wrote me and 
said, if the blood was so important, why 
was it the early preachers, the apostles, 
and Christ Himself never referred to it? 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



97 



I hadn't time to write to the lady, but I 
wish she was present to-day, for I will 
prove that the early Chrstians preached 
nothing else. Would you turn to Acts ii. 
22-36. It was Christ and Him crucified 
the apostles preached, and nothing else. 
It was this preaching God blessed, and 
which brought so many in one day to the 
cross of Christ. [To further prove this, Mr. 
Moody quoted Acts iv. 10, Acts v. 29, Acts 
vii. 52, Actsviii. 32, Actsxvii. 2, 18, 31 ; He- 
brews ix. 22 ; Matthew xxvi. 28, Revelations 
i. 5.] If a man makes light of the blood, how 
is he going to be washed in it ? If he makes 
light of the blood, how is he going to get 
rid of his sins ? and how is he going to 
stacd before that pure God unless his 
sins are washed away ? A great many 
people think God never loves them until 
they get rid of their sins, and because they 
are so vile they cannot come to God — 
" unto Him that loved us and washed 
us." He loves us in our sins, saves us 
from our sins, and washes us and 
clothes us with His own garment, and 
then we are able to have communion 
with Him. Satan says God will not love 
you because you are not pure. But let us 
keep to Scripture — " unto Him that loved 
us and washed us." Like the good Samari- 
tan who went to the poor man who fell 
among thieves, so Christ comes to the 
sinner where he is. You cannot make 
yourselves clean, therefore stay where you 
are. Let Christ wash you, for our good 
intentions and prayers cannot atone for 
sin. 

THE NEW AND LIVING WAY. 

Heb. x. 19, 20 — " Having, therefore, breth- 
ren, boldness to^ enter into the holiest by 
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living 
way which He hath consecrated for us, 
through the veil, that is to say, His flesh." 
When Christ expired on the cross the veil 
of the temple was rent, and as somebody 
said, not from the bottom to the top, but 
from the top down. Thanks be to God, 
we don't need any one to plead for us, for 
we can come right into His presence, for 
we are all priests now. I want to say to 
you who are running to this man and 
that man to plead for you, go right to the 
Master yourselves. Let us come by this 
new and living way Christ has made for us 
by rending the veil. Christ's flesh was 
nailed to that cross to open the living way. 
Before only the high priest could go into 
the holiest of holies, but the moment Christ 



expired He made us all priests. Some one 
may remark, " It says confess your sins 
one to another ; " but if I have sinned 
against a man I must confess to him, and 
must also confess to God. If I have 
caused man to stumble I must go and re- 
move that stumbling-block out of the way. 
The only man, it is said, who confessed 
his sins to man was Judas, and he hung 
himself. Peter confessed to God, and God 
forgave him. Numbers xxviii. 4 — " The 
one lamb shall thou offer in the morning, 
and the other lamb shall thou offer in the 
even." That was done continually, and 
the priest could never take his seat in the 
holiest of holies because his work was 
never done. Now turn to Hebrews x. 12 
— " But this man, after he had offered one 
sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the 
right hand of God." The blood of Christ 
is enough to cover every sin that was com- 
mitted. All the lambs on the other side of 
the cross were typical. They were point- 
ing to the true sacrifice, and they were all 
fulfilled in Him. We don't need to make 
any more sacrifice. He has made sacrifice 
Himself, and has made full atonement for 
every sin. All we have now to do is to 
trust the sacrifice. God says, I am satis- 
fied with the finished work of Christ, and 
the moment the sinner is satisfied, God 
and the sinner are united. The 

BLOOD HAS TWO CRIES. 

It either cries for my condemnation, which 
means damnation, — excuse the strong ex- 
pression, — or for my salvation. If I make 
light of the blood and trample it under my 
feet, then it cries out for God's condemna- 
tion ; but if I am sheltered behind the 
blood, there is no condemnation for me. 
God dealt in judgment with Cain, and 
when Pilate wanted to know what to do 
with Christ, he washed his hands and said 
he was innocent. The Jews said, Let His 
blood be upon us and our children, not to 
save us, but to condemn us. Would 
they had said, Let His blood be upon 
us to save us and protect us. Nearly 
1,900 years have rolled away, and the 
Jews are wanderers on the face of 
the earth without a king. Their having 
been scattered all these years, what a proof 
it is the Word of God is true ! May our 
prayer be to-day, His blood be upon us 
and our children, not to condemn us, but 
to save us. Let that be our prayer, that 
we may know what it is to be sheltered be- 
hind the blood of God's dear Son. Colos- 



9 s 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



sians i. 20 — "And having made peace 
through the blood of His cross, by Him to 
reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, 
. whether they be things in earth or 
things in heaven." The blood of the cross 
speaks peace. If I am 

SHELTERED BEHIND THE BLOOD 

there is peace, and there is no peace until 
my sin is covered. If you had committed 
sin against a man you would get no peace 
until that was forgiven. Men are running 
after peace, and if it could be bought in 
the market, many would give hundreds of 
thousands of pounds to secure it. The 
blood of Christ speaks peace, and it will 
bring peace to every guilty conscience and 
aching heart to-day if you only seek it. 
John xix. 34 — " But one of the soldiers 
with a spear pierced His side, and forth- 
with came thereout blood and water." 
There is a beautiful thought contained in 
this verse. The spear that went into the 
side of the Son of God was the crowning 
point of earth and hell. I don't see how 
they could have done a more cruel thing 
than that. You may say that w T as the 
crowning act of sin. And the blood came 
out and covered the spear, and a fountain 
was thus open in the house of David for 
sin. The blood touched the Roman spear, 
and it was not long before He had the 
Roman Government. The blood ran down 
from His side, and God will have the 
world by-and-by. He is the true Sovereign, 
and He will cast out the prince of darkness, 
and will sway His sceptre from end to end 
of the earth. He has redeemed the earth 
by His blood, and He will have all He has 
redeemed, bear that in mind. 

HAS THE BLOOD TOUCHED YOU? 

The blood of Christ makes us one, brings 
us into the family of God, and enables us ' 
to cry, " Abba, Father." During the days 
of slavery in America, when there was 
much political strife and strong prejudice 
against the black men, especially by Irish- 
men, I heard a preacher say when he 
came to the cross for salvation he found a 
poor negro on the right hand and an Irish- 
man on the left hand, and the blood came 
trickling down upon them and made them 
one. There may be strife in the world, but 
every one Christ has redeemed He has 
made one. We are blood relatives. When 
I go before an audience there ain't hardly 
a person I have seen before ; but as I 
begin to talk about the Kingdom their eyes 



light up, and I say they are kinsmen, they 
are blood relatives, and in a short time I 
become attached to them. A man may go 
into a town a perfect stranger, but how 
soon will he find out those who love God, 
and they will be one. I wish Christians 
had more of this oneness. I hope the time 
will soon come when these sectarian walls 
will be broken down, and people will not 
want to ask whether you belong to the Es- 
tablished, Wesleyan, or Baptist Churches. 
Here, mind, we are blood relatives. 
Thomas thrust his hand into the Master's 
side, and He was afterwards seen by over 
500 at once. The apostles saw Him go 
back to Heaven, but the blood which 
flowed on Calvary is there, and I believe 

GOD IS GOING TO JUDGE THE WORLD BY THE 
BLOOD. 

— " What did you do with the blood ? " 
If w T e make light of that blood, and send 
back an insulting message, saying we don't 
want the blood of God's dear Son, we shall 
stand speechless before God's tribunal. 
What have you done with God's blood ? 
If we make light of that blood what is go- 
ing to become of our souls ? Hebrews x. 
28, 29 — " He that despised Moses' law 
died without mercy under two or three 
witnesses. Of how much sorer punish- 
ment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
worthy who hath trodden under foot the 
Son of God, and hath counted the blood 
of the covenant, wherewith he was sancti- 
fied, an unholy thing, and hath done 
despite unto the Spirit of grace ? " To me 
these are very solemn verses. I don't see 
how any one can sit here and hear these 
verses read and not be saved. I don't care 
what you are or what your life has been, 
if you have rejected Christ up to the 
present time. Let me read these verses 
again. They died without mercy ; but 
how much more sore will be the punish- 
ment of those who live in the age with an 
open Bible which tells how Christ died to 
redeem us, and make us heirs of heaven. 
Revelation xii. n — "And they overcame 
him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the 
word of their testimony, and they loved 
not their lives unto the death." I don't 
believe there is a word in the Bible Satan 
is fearing more than the word blood. I 
shall receive a good many letters to-mor- 
row attacking me for what I have said to- 
day. These letters will say it is heathen- 
ish to stand up and preach what would 
only do for an unenlightened age. May 



SERMONS AND ADDRESSES. 



99 



God forgive anyone who would dare to 
teach such a thing. If you will read your 
Bible in the light of Calvary, you will find 
there is no other way of coming to heaven 
but by the blood. The devil don't fear 
10,000 preachers who preach a bloodless 
religion. A man who preaches a bloodless 
religion is doing the devil's work, and I 
don't care who he is. It is said of old Dr. 
Alexander, of Princeton Seminary, that as 
the students left, he would take them by 
the hand, and say, " Young man, make 
much of the blood — 

MAKE MUCH OF THE BLOOD." 

As I have traveled up and down Chris- 
tendom, I have found out that a minister 
who gives a clear sound upon this doctrine 
is successful. A man who covers up the 
cross, though he may be an intellectual 
man, and draw large crowds, there will be 
no life there, and his church will be like a 
gilded sepulchre. Those men who preach 
the doctrine of the cross, holding up Christ 
as the sinner's only hope of heaven, and as 
the sinner's only Substitute, and make 
much of the blood, God honors, and souls 
are always saved in the church where that 
is preached. I don't like to give advice to 
these gray-haired ministers, but make much 
of the blood. May God help us to make 
much of the blood of His Son. It cost 
God so much to give us this blood, and 
shall we try to keep it from the world 
which is perishing from the want of it ? 
The world can get along without us, but 
not without Christ. Let us preach Christ 
in season and out of season. Let us go to 
the sick and dying, and hold up the 
Saviour who came to seek and save them, 
and died to redeem them. It is said of 
Julian, the apostate in Rome, that when he 
was trying to stamp 'out Christianity, he 
was pierced in the side by an arrow. He 
pulled the arrow out, and taking a handful 
of blood as it flowed from the wound, 
threw it into the air, shouting, " Thou 
Galileean, Thou hast conquered! " Yes, 
this Galileean is going to conquer. May 
God help us to give no uncertain sound on 
this doctrine. I wou 1 rather give up my 
life than give up this uoctrine. Take that 
away, and what is my hope of heaven ? 
Am I to depend upon my works ? Away 
with it when it comes to the question of 
salvation. I must get salvation distinct 
and separate from work, for it is to him 
that worketh not and believeth. None will 



walk the celestial pavement of heaven but 
those washed in the blood. The first man 
that went up from this earth was Abel 
probably. You can see Abel putting his 
little lamb upon the altar, thus placing 
blood between him and his sin. Abel sang 
a song the angels could not join in. There 
must have been 

ONE SOLO SONG IN HEAVEN, 

because Abel had no one to join him. But 
there is a great chorus now, for the re- 
deemed have been going up for 6,000 years, 
and they sing of Him who is worthy to re- 
ceive honor because He died to save us 
from hell and damnation. Revelation vii. 
14 — "And I said unto him, Sir, thou 
knowest. And he said to me, These are 
they which came out of great tribulation, 
and have washed their robes, and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb." 
Sinner, how are you going to get your robes 
clean if you don't get them washed in the 
blood of the Lamb ? How are you going 
to wash them ? Can you make them clean ? 
I hope at last we shall get back to the para- 
dise above. There they are singing the 
sweet song of redemption, and may it be 
the happy lot of each of us to join them. 
It may be a few months at the longest be- 
fore we shall be there, and shout the song 
of redemption, and sing the sweet song of 
Moses and the Lamb. If you die without 
Christ, without hope, and without God, 
where will you be ? Sinner, be wise ! don't 
make light of the blood. An aged minister 
of the Gospel, when on his dying bed, said, 
" Bring me the Bible." Putting his finger 
upon the verse, " The blood of Jesus Christ, 
His Son, cleanses us from all sin," he said. 
" I die in the hope of this verse." It wasn't 
his fifty years' preaching, but the blood of 
Christ. When we stand before God's tri- 
bunal we shall be as pure as God, because 
we shall be washed in the blood of the 
Lamb. During the American war a doctor 
heard a man saying, " Blood, blood, blood !" 
The doctor thought this was because he 
had seen so much blood, and sought to di- 
vert his mind. The man smiled, and said, 
" I wasn't thinking of the blood upon the 
battle-field, but I was thinking how pre- 
cious the blood of Christ is to me as I am 
dying." As he died, his lips quivered, 
" Blood, blood, blood !" and he was gone. 
It will be precious when we come to our 
dying bed — it will be worth more than all 
the world then. 



IOO 



THE GREAT REVIVAL. 



LOSING THE BRAKE. 

A stage-driver away on the Pacific coast 
— as I was told when I was there about 
three years ago — while lying on his dying 
bed, kept moving one of his feet up and 
down, saying, " I am on the down grade, 
and cannot reach the brake." As they told 
me of it I thought how many were on the 
down grade and could not reach the brake, 
and were dying without God and without 
hope. I plead with you as a fellow traveler ; 
don't go out of this hall without saying, 
Heaven is my home and God is my Father. 
Don't let the scoffers laugh you into hell ; 
they cannot laugh you out of it. The blood 
is upon the mercy-seat, and while it is upon 
the mercy-seat you go into the kingdom. 
God says, " There is the blood ; it is all I 
have to give." The blood is there, and God 
says, " As long as it is there, there is hope 
for you. I am satisfied with the finished 
work of My Son and will you be satisfied." 



Don't go out until you can claim this as 
yours. Think of that atheist we have been 
praying for who is dying. I hope he will 
lay hold of Christ before he dies. How 
dark and sad it is to go to the bed-side of 
a dying infidel or atheist, or one who is 
dying without the light of the resurrection 
morn. I hope the light will burst in upon 
him before it is too late. If we trust to 
Christ, death has lost its sting and the grave 
its victory. You may have read of that 
good man in America, Alfred Cookman. 
While his friends were gathered round his 
dying couch his face lit up, and with a 
shout of triumph, he sard, " I am sweeping 
through the gates, washed in the blood of 
the Lamb !" And this echoes and re-echoes 
through America to-day, " I am sweeping 
through the gates, washed in the blood of 
the Lamb !" May these be our last words, 
and there will be no trouble then about an 
entrance into the kingdom of God. 



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